Work Text:
From a very young age Izuku has been fascinated by the many and different mechanisms. The mechanisms that make the clock hand turn, the mechanisms that allow cars to speed by, the mechanisms that turn his bedroom light on.
All of them.
Since his dad was never around, it was up to him to fix anything that broke. Five year old him didn’t know what was going on half the time, but neither did his mom. What he did know was that a screwdriver made it easier to screw in big and small screws alike. Pliers helped to pull something almost completely stuck out. Wrenches help rotate hard-to-turn objects.
Inko found out about his talent on accident. She was cleaning the wooden, but slightly dusty, floors of the apartment when the vacuum suddenly stopped working. She tried turning the vacuum on and off a couple of times and unplugging and plugging it back into the outlet.
Nothing worked and she was devastated. Recently she had been tight on money, so buying a new vacuum was out of the question. The only broom in the house had been thrown out years ago due to the disheveled state it was in.
Repairs aren’t cheap. They cost just as much as a new vacuum, if not more. Brooms are way cheaper but her back has been aching more these past few weeks. Backaches were starting to get common and she couldn’t sweep with a broom so well anymore.
She walked back to the vacuum after pacing around a bit to examine how bad the damage is. When she entered the kitchen, where the vacuum was stationed, she was shocked to see little Izuku messing with the cable and disassembling a part of the vacuum piece by piece.
She pulled him away from the destroyed machine in haste, scared of him getting hurt or, God forbid, electrocuted. Izuku getting hurt is one of her worst fears. And him getting hurt because of her carelessness? An even worse fear.
“Izu! What are you doing! Don’t you know that’s dangerous?!” She exclaimed so loud she was sure the entire apartment complex could hear. But that is not at importance at this moment. Her son was in danger.
Izuku only looked at her with what looked like determination in his eyes, “But mommy! I fixed it, look!” He pointed to the partly destroyed cleaning wonder.
Inko wasn’t very sure her son could do something like that. She looked into his moss green eyes and she swears she could see them sparkling. “Alright,” she obliged, “but if it doesn’t work I’m not letting you anywhere near it again!” Child-like wonder escaped his eyes and painted a big smile on his round face.
Though a little hesitantly, Izuku agreed to this proposal. Inko hadn’t seen him that confident… ever. Before she could touch any of the yanked out parts laying on the ground, Izuku ran over there and picked up what looked like a plastic front cover. “Let me help mommy! This goes here… and this…”
Inko watched as Izuku trailed off, putting each and every piece back into place in lightning speed. His hands weren’t shaky or trembling like usually - no, they were steady and precise. He had small fingers that could barely grasp around some of the bigger parts, but he got them eventually.
Mother’s have this special power of having a feeling in their gut when something is about to go wrong. Surprisingly, Inko didn’t have this feeling not even once as she watched her son happily put together a previously shambled vacuum cleaner.
Inko knows that most boys go through a phase where they’re obsessed with technology and how to fix it. She isn’t so sure this is the case though. As far as she knows, Izuku has never been told anything about working tools or such complicated contraptions.
From that day onwards whenever something broke Inko didn’t have to stress herself anymore. A quick “Hey, Izuku?” was enough to summon a young boy with pips and oil smears on his face that seemed to never go away.
No matter how big or small, Izuku was always able to fix everything. With the toolbox his mom had bought him in hand he was unstoppable. Nothing was safe from Izuku’s curiosity. There was a brief moment in time when he wanted to get a closer look into the inner working’s of anything he could get his hands on.
The All Might alarm in his bedroom was his first victim. When Inko went to check if he’s up already on a school morning, she found him sitting on his carpeted floor with a box, wires, buttons and systems scattered beside him. He was lifting and examining each of them very carefully. So carefully, in fact, that he screamed once he realised his mom was standing in the doorway.
At first, Inko had thought that Izuku’s quirk was something technical, or maybe intelligence based? Izuku didn’t seem to wonder about that. He was constantly captivated by something new. She was very happy to know her son had such a wonderful quirk. It’s mandatory to take your child to see a quirk specialist to name and categorise their quirk.
Taking Izuku to a quirk specialist turned out pretty terrific. They had told him straight on that he was diagnosed as quirkless. His mouth hung open and he dropped his favourite screwdriver on the floor. Inko remembers the sound like yesterday, her heart aching when she remembers it.
For the next few days he locked himself in his small room and refused to even look at the bright red toolbox he had previously dragged everywhere. Izuku had theorised that he had a gadget assembling or understanding quirk. Even Katsuki wasn’t able to cheer him up.
They had always dreamed of becoming heroes together. They had even thought of hero names and special moves for each other. Katsuki had gone even as far as to make his own investigation into Yuuei’s provided programmes to cheer Izuku up. Once he found out about the support course he had dashed to Izuku’s house.
Izuku had shut himself in his room and was dismantling his All Might themed alarm clock for what could’ve been the 20th time, although this time his eyes were lifeless. When Katsuki arrived, he practically shoved the flyer into Izuku’s tired face. It took a while for him to read the whole description of the support course and Katsuki sat silently next to him the entire time.
Once he finished reading of the wonders that Yuuei guarantees, he lowered the paper. His eyes had that determined look in them again.
Izuku was Izuku again.
Katsuki was prouder than usual for the next couple of days. In celebration of helping Izuku overcome his devastation, he was allowed to eat as much ice-cream as he wanted for three whole happy and fulfilling days.
Inko called many shops and businesses in hopes they could take on her son as an apprentice. Of course, everyone turned her down. Nobody believed that a five year old had any understanding of machinery.
When Inko called the last business she could think of, she partly gave up. The phone rang and rang, not connecting to another person. Just as she was about to hang up, a man picked up the phone.
They discussed his age and range of capabilities, which even Inko didn’t know, and the man agreed to meet the boy himself. He invited them to his workplace to examine him for consideration for becoming an apprentice. Inko was very happy when she found out he was stationed only a block away. His attitude was pleasant as well.
The moment Izuku set foot into a lab full of machinery and technology, he felt like he entered a whole new world. A whole world just for him to explore and understand. He went from invention to invention, examining every nook and cranny.
Meanwhile, the man revealed his name was Power Loader. He had long messy brown hair with screws and scraps tangled within. He explained that he works as a costume support designer for heroes. Inko visibly relaxed in his presence. His big yellow helmet and huge black gloves with brown fingerprints seemed explanatory when she knew his occupation. What she did mind was his lack of shirt.
The man and Izuku bonded immediately over a peculiar support item, designed for absorbing impact and releasing it back out. Izuku proceeded to ask about the gears and structure while Inko watched from the sidelines with a soft smile.
Immediately after middle school, Izuku would rush to Power’s studio. Katsuki would sometimes tag along. He says it’s because he has nothing better to do, but Izuku is almost 100% certain it’s because he actually enjoys his company. Power doesn’t mind the explody boys presence either. His explosions help break down disfunctioning junk that didn’t turn out the way it needed to. Besides, all he did was sit in a corner and study while glancing at Izuku every once in a while.
Izuku adapted to Power’s way of working. He changed into an overall without bothering to put on a shirt. Power’s shirtlessness was contagious. It would usually get really hot really fast in the studio. Both Izuku and Power used flames and saws and trimming devices on the daily.
Izuku would tune in here and there to check on his teacher’s work and copy down his instructions down carefully. His notes consisted of mending and machinery lessons like: “When shaping glass, wear gloves and glasses and only pick it up with specialised equipment. VERY HOT!” and “When mending, never forget to wear a specialised face and eye cover. VERY BRIGHT!” And anything of the sort.
His notebook also included analysis of all kinds of heroes. Power is very strict and expects perfection from him. After all, being able to study under a professional and in-demand support designer for free is one of the highest honours on this planet.
Power assigns new heroes to develop support items for every month. Izuku has an entire two weeks to analyse the hero’s fighting style, usage of quirk, physical stature and design an item for them. Power says an entire two weeks, but it’s barely enough to complete the assigned task. Izuku has been completing these assignments from the moment he learned all about the different parts and ways to shape them and amass into whatever he wanted.
Izuku sometimes spends entire nights in the studio, so caught up in his analysing and mumbling that he doesn’t see the sun go down or up. His mom was worried for him but, miraculously, he had managed to convince Katsuki to tell her that he’s staying overnight at the Bakugou’s. In return, Izuku promised to help him design his hero costume when they both get into Yuuei.
Over the years, Izuku got the nickname “Gear.” It started as a joke when Katsuki was hanging out with him in the lab, studying while Izuku did some questionable alterations to one of Power’s assignments. Izuku was mumbling and distracting Katsuki. His patience was already thin and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Your shitty mouth keeps running like a fucking mechanism. I’m going to start calling you Gear.”
To Katsuki’s surprise, Izuku actually liked that name a whole lot. He even requested that he actually call him that. Katsuki started addressing him by this nickname at school and eventually, everyone started calling him that. Even teachers.
During recess, Izuku was always working on Power’s close to impossible homework. He was so caught up in his own head that he hadn’t noticed the multiple curious eyes on him, watching him put together scraps of metal and screws and bring it over to Katsuki.
Teachers learned early on that they had to do anything in their power to stop the boy from bringing anything he puts together to Katsuki. It never ends well.
The first time this happened, half of the schools backyard was engulfed in a thick fog that lasted three whole days from a test grenade Izuku had developed. All he had to say to the principal about this incident was, “I may have overdone it a teeny bit.” Many more incidents followed soon after, attaching the entire schools attention to one short green haired maniac. An engineering maniac.
A month before Yuuei’s entrance exam, Izuku was already a nervous wreck. He was so nervous that his hands trembled anxiously, like an earthquake only he could feel was constantly shaking his only weapon in this field - his goddamn hands.
Power Loader had to actually sit him down and tell him over 50 times that everything will go well. After all, he was studying under one of the best in Tokyo. Seeing that the boy was still too anxious to work, Power decided to assign a special hero for the upcoming homework.
Up until now, he had assigned only daylight heroes. Heroes who had a lot of footage of them fighting plastered all over the internet. “Tell you what,” he strictly began, “there’s a certain hero working there in the Heroics course.”
Izuku perked up instantly at the mention of Yuuei and a hero, lifting his notebook and pen seemingly out of nowhere. His eyes still had the same glow from when he first started studying there.
“He’s an underground hero. His hero name is Eraserhead.” With that, Power got up from his stool and proceeded to switch his huge helmet for a metal face cover to protect himself from the bright light of the mending tool he was picking up.
Izuku sat speechless and confused in his stool. “That’s… it? Isn’t there, like, ya’ know, more information you’re going to tell me?” Power Loader smirked under his mask and turned to face Izuku, “Nope. That’s all. Oh, by the way, you have a month for this one!” Before Izuku could get another word out, Power turned on the bright and loud tool, drowning out any of his complaints or stopping him from approaching or even looking in his general direction.
This task baffled Izuku like no other. He was used to gathering intelligence on daylight heroes, so upon finding out there are only five videos on Eraserhead sent a hellish scream throughout the studio, which made Power smirk mischievously, yet playfully. He loves seeing student’s reactions when they first try to analyse underground heroes.
By this point in time, Inko had figured out Izuku was out in the lab pulling all nighters. She would regularly stop by to drop off dinner and occasionally breakfast. She quickly learned to not hug, kiss, ruffle his hair or touch him in any kind of way, as he was always covered in oil and hard to clean substances. She learned by having one of her favourite shirts get irreversibly dirtied.
She talked to him about what kind of equipment he could develop for this underground hero. She gave him a few pointers which he carefully jotted down in his ever present notebook. Izuku wrote down keywords: stealth, floating hair? agile, smart, quiet? Moving scarf??
He is unsure what he is supposed to do. All of the videos have quality worse than he has ever seen and, coming from him, that’s really bad. He watched that grainy All Might debut video a gazillion times while ripping apart any item in the house that had a gear or two. He has the horrible quality memorised. There aren’t any distinct articles on Eraserhead that could help either. They just briefly mention how he helped capture small time criminals and full on villains.
A brilliant idea appeared in his mind. An idea that will seem utterly stupid to the one it’s directed at. Izuku dashed to Katsuki’s house at the great hour of 11pm to brainstorm ideas together. Katsuki landed an explosion on his already dirty face but other than that his groggy brain attempted to at least help somewhat.
After a few days of watching those five videos on repeat and thousands of attempts to draw what the hero could look like close up, Izuku decided to finally start thinking of equipment that would be necessary for a hero like him.
What really threw him off was what his quirk could be. At first it seemed like he could manipulate objects with a specific amount of weight or length, but it was quickly debunked by the lack of any other object in the heroes vicinity moving. Scarf = possible support item? And the indicator isn’t his floating hair, because it sometimes still stays up even when the scarf has ceased movement. What he has noted is that the criminals seem to get stuck whenever his hair floats up. Some kind of… strength erasure quirk- wait. Erasure. Eraserhead.
“Oh my Gods I’m so fucking dumb.”
Quirk erasure! It’s quite literally in his name! And something to do with his head? Erases quirk with his mind? His hair? Why the yellow eye cover? To protect his civilian identity? You can’t see his eyes at all-
“Holy shit.”
He’s never been so glad his mother isn’t by his side. Izuku isn’t really the type of person to curse. After being friends with Katsuki for about a decade, obviously he’s picked up some of his speech habits. Hanging out with Katsuki for years and not picking up on any of his mannerisms seems even more impossible than the sun exploding right this instant.
Back to the support item designing. First, the colour. His outfit is all black except for his support item moving scarf and yellow glasses. The existing support item will stay the same since Izuku has no idea what its made out of to be moved like that at will. The glasses make him a little more noticeable but making them black could cause burns during hot weather and anything other than metal would fly right off during fights.
Second, fighting style. He uses close and mid-range combat. He fights hand to hand with quirk erasure activated and uses his scarf for both simple movements and lengthy ones. From the incredibly small amount of footage Izuku was able to decipher he noticed that Eraserhead's clothes are pretty loose. Maybe he could wear a one-piece to make sure- no, no. Izuku shakes his head furiously, reminding himself he has to think of support items to compensate for any faults he finds.
One of the first things Power Loader taught him was that support items have to be made to match their users style and scheme. Support item creators exist to create equipment for heroes, not assign them a whole new outfit. And to NEVER change an already existing support item unless it’s critically needed, and that is a hassle on its own because he needs to get in contact with the original maker for permission to alter it.
Judging by his fighting style, he’s pretty built too. Fighting close quarters means that he has great muscle mass. The longer Izuku looks at the man drawn in his notebook in a messy style, the more he wonders what he could even add to him to improve his performance. Now he understands why Power gave him twice the time for this one.
The hero already has everything he needs. What could even be improved? The man relies on agility and intelligence, while he’s also well built. One of the biggest weaknesses Izuku can see at the moment is how the heroes support item isn’t detachable. He has to stay with the villain until police arrive, therefore leaving him vulnerable. If Izuku could understand what materials were used for his scarf, maybe, just maybe, he could make a detachable version. But it’s not in critical need of improving and he can probably talk to the developer directly about improvements in the future.
Power taught Izuku to first look at a person’s quirk’s main aspects when not sure what to design for them. It’s safe to assume Eraserhead’s quirk is Quirk Erasure, which he uses his sight for. If they need to be hidden, that probably means he needs to blink since eyes get dry easily, let alone in a battle environment.
High tech glasses it is then.
Many heroes have some kind of high tech glasses which show information on screen and are adjusted to their needs. What Izuku needs to do is make this unique to make Power Loader give him a passing grade.
His head hurts from thinking how he could make them special and he deiced, yet again, to pay Katsuki a visit. This time he made sure it’s the afternoon so he wouldn’t get his face smashed by an exploding palm.
Katsuki kicks the front door open none too gently when he realised it’s his over-energetic childhood friend. Speaking of which, how does he even have that much energy when he doesn’t sleep most nights? Katsuki keeps wondering that, and when he once asked Izuku he only smiled in reply before continuing assembling something that would explode by itself later on.
“Gear, it’s literally your assignment. Get out. I’m trying to study.”
“Aw, but come on! Just five minutes please?”
“…Only if you get me the new All Might edition crackers.”
“Deal!”
Four hours later, they had come up with a hella lot of ideas. Most of which were scrapped out or exploded by none other than Katsuki for being “too fucking basic.” Of the remaining ideas that survived elimination, Izuku was sorting through to see how realistic they were.
‘Zoom in on specific target’ ‘show quirk danger level’ ‘nearby layout map’
“Kacchan… these all require microtechnology.”
“Yeah, so? You can pull any shit off.” Katsuki grumbled, reaching for his notebook to get started on his homework.
“I’ve never worked with stuff like that!” He argued back, “Power Loader only works with big machinery, so, I’ve never got the chance to learn how to work with it!”
Katsuki glanced at him, “Never?”
“Nope.” Izuku deadpanned. Katsuki was starting to get pissed off and Izuku was not sensing any of his rage seeping through. Katsuki shifted on the couch to get a better look at Izuku, who was sitting on a cardboard box on the floor to not stain anything in the house.
He hits Izuku firmly on the head, “Fucking dumbass! All those years in the studio and you ain’t learn shit about the small parts?”
“Ow!” Izuku grunted, “I know some things about it from disassembling household items but that’s about it!”
Katsuki sighed a heavy sigh and proceeded to take his phone out. “Don’t ignore me!” Izuku pouted, but understood where he was coming from. He sat on the flattened cardboard box and reflected on how much he knows about microtechnology. He has some small experience, but he doesn’t know if he’s capable of making the glasses show the surrounding layout. How- how even?
“Here,” Katsuki shoved his phone into Izuku’s face, “you can nerd out over this video.” Izuku stared at him in confusion and pressed play on the video. It showed someone’s hands and a flat surface. The person then proceeded to take out a computer chip and show certain parts of it under the microscope, explaining how they work and what they do. Izuku stared in awe, absorbing everything the man was saying. He clicked on the next video, and then the next, and then another…
He spiralled into a microchip and computer chip technology loop, trying to understand everything he could process and distinguish. He wrote down diligently some of the most important parts so he wouldn’t forget. The videos kept going on and on, until his phone screen suddenly went black. Out of battery.
“Hey, Kacchan-“ he began, but stopped when he saw Katsuki sleeping on the couch. He was still sitting, but his arms were placed beside him and his head was thrown backwards in an angle that can’t be comfortable.
Izuku shuffled quietly and wondered what he should do. Katsuki will get muscle pains if he stays like that, but he’ll get angry if he leaves the cardboard box. Izuku decided to risk it and leaves his box. Gently, he picks Katsuki up and lays him down in a more comfortable position. After working for ten years in the studio, he’s built up quite the muscle.
Izuku knows all about aching muscles and back pains because he’s used to falling asleep in the oddest of places. He doesn’t have a normal sleep schedule so falling asleep whenever and wherever has brought him useful knowledge to at least lay fully down before closing his eyelids.
He pulls a blanket over Katsuki and checks the time - 2am. The perfect hour for Izuku to go to sleep, but he decided it’s better to stay in the lab and start figuring this small machinery out.
A quick check of his phone makes him question whether he should really stay up. He decided it was for the best for him to get a full night’s rest, which amounts to about 7 hours maximum for him.
After a comfortable night's rest and getting yelled at by Katsuki for leaving one oil smear on his phone screen, he heads back to the lab confidently. He whips out his notes and goes over them. He turns to a blank page and writes a big title: “Eraserhead’s glasses.”
He writes down the ideas he had with Katsuki down, one by one. Eraserhead doesn’t need the weird gaps in his goggles if they were just tinted. He draws pictures of the tinted glasses from all angles. They don’t have a space for the hero’s nose and reach from one ear to the other for ultimate reach.
Izuku takes out a chip, durable plastic, aluminium, screws and examines them all. He should first get the general shape of the glasses. Aluminium is durable and a good fit for easy wear. Durable plastic is perfect for the glasses, because it’s easily tinted and also won’t break as easily as plain glass. Screws just in case ‘cause… he doesn’t really know what he’s doing.
He examines the chip in front of him from all dimensions and then decides to start working to alter it. The thing about chips is the precision they need. Most often they are remodelled with small pliers that pick apart small parts and pieces. He needs to make a system capable of projecting augmented reality onto the plastic for the hero to easily see.
Smartglasses require an imbedded system - a delicate system that is inside a bigger object and needs to be protected from any outside damage that could knock out important parts or crush them altogether.
Izuku works on the system for weeks. He loses track of time and spends however long he wants on their production. With the school break comes his self destructive behaviour of not taking his physical or emotional needs seriously to produce results.
After dipping the shaped durable plastic into boiled food colouring from one side, he was able to produce tinted plastic, only see-through from one side. He then added them to the already shaped aluminium glasses legs. The plastic fits perfectly and Izuku makes a note to surround it in the light metal to increase protection.
He adds the system into the legs, carefully and precisely, his hands not allowed to tremble even once as the system is put together inside the glasses. After hours and hours of working, he’s done it. He’s completed his support item. He checks his phone for the deadline which is… two hours later.
TWO HOURS? Power Loader has been so kind to give him an entire month and he’s only produced the prototype. There’s no way he’s going to pass this test. He scrambles for his phone and dials Katsuki. The phone rings and rings, with nobody picking up. Izuku’s nerves are already wrecked, and Katsuki not picking up tears them apart.
With no other choice, he puts the glasses into a case, specifically designed for their holding, and rushes out of the lab. He locks it and puts the key in the flower pot where Power will be able to find it.
Power has been working in another city this whole time, so he doesn’t have a clue about his distress or invention. There is only one hour and fifty six minutes until he arrives and Izuku needs Katsuki to test them out in case they explode like most of his other prototypes.
Why Katsuki, you ask? Because of his quirk, he’s built up a resistance against explosions. Basically, loud sounds, bright lights, heat and smoke that comes with them. He’s never seriously affected by them and comes out unscathed… most of the time.
Anyway, Izuku’s overalls one strap falls off his shoulder leaving him shirtless and running with a briefcase on the street. He looks like he’s insane to anyone who’s happened to go outside that day, but he’s panicking, in a rush and fucking losing it.
Thankfully, he makes his way to the Bakugou residence with his prototype intact. He dashes inside, not caring about the mess he’s leaving behind himself. The only word his lips allow to escape while he’s rushing to Katsuki’s room is “Katsuki!” on repeat. He opens his bedroom door unsurprised by the sudden greenette waiting for him there, obviously somewhere not on Earth, if his cloudy eyes are anything to go by.
“Quick! Outside!” Izuku exclaims and grabs Katsuki’s wrist, practically dragging him there without him getting a single word out. Katsuki matched his stupidly quick pace and they ended up in his backyard.
They stopped and Katsuki knew something was up, but Izuku got the first word out yet again. “Okay, so, I only have one hour and forty two minutes until Power Loader’s deadline for Eraserhead’s support item and I only have the prototype ready. I completed the whole microchip system and added augmented reality projectors and sensors for picking up on the terrain but I’m not that good at coding so it might look awfully bad and not even work and everything could just explode and go to waste so you have to try them out and if they do explode please burry me alive and tell my mom I love her and-“
“Fucking slow down!” Katsuki snaps Izuku out of his nervous mumbling fit. “Damn, Gear. What the fuck. It’s definitely fine just give it to me.”
Izuku only stares at him for a moment and carefully gives the glasses to Katsuki. He takes them and shakes them around, a move that would shock any engineer or support item developer out there.
“What are you doing?!” Izuku shouts too loudly, almost snatching his pride and joy away from Katsuki.
Katsuki only doges his sloppy tries to get it back, “Aren’t they supposed to be good for battle? I can shake them all I want.” Without further warning, he puts them on and Izuku jumps back into a bush just in case it does explode.
All Katsuki sees is his backyard. Anything that was supposed to appear, didn’t. “Hey-“ he’s already trying to comfort Izuku, who’s pretty fucking much trembling his whole backyard. As those words escape him, there are suddenly white lines obscuring his vision. He looks around a bit franticly as the white lines settle and show the outline of everything. Trees, his house, fence, the nerd - everything is outlined. Katsuki didn’t know there were even flowers growing in that denser part of the garden.
He looks at Izuku, who just stood up, and the amount of details the white lines outline on him are uncanny. His freckles appeared as four white dots under each eye, his hair had an outline where his strands visibly got darker. His entire outfit had been outlined and even the ugly winking flower design patch on his knee, which he wished wasn’t. Everything looked so clear to him.
“What. The. Fuck.” Katsuki gazed around him, amazed of how well built this is. He’s sure even some existing support item designers wouldn’t be able to match the level of amazing Izuku achieved in a matter of weeks. Who knows what he could do if he had more time.
“What the fuck in a good or bad way?” Izuku walked towards Katsuki, sighing in relief that his hard work was still in one piece.
Katsuki looked at him and then seemed to remember something. “Isn’t it supposed to show quirk danger level or something?”
“Oh!” Izuku visibly brightened up and Katsuki prepared himself for another mumbling fit, which he always does once he shows his newest invention to him. Instead of a mumbling it, Izuku looks at the glasses as if they’re supposed to explain everything. “Press this button here!” he points to Katsuki’s right side, right above his ear.
Katsuki presses the button with no hesitation and sees the multiple windows that pop up after looking at Izuku. It correctly analyses him as quirkless and the danger level appears as “none.”
“You’ve outdone yourself.” Katsuki accidentally slips.
“You’re praising me?” Izuku’s eyes start to sparkle, joy appearing in them. “You - the great Katsuki Bakugou - complimenting me?!”
“Oh shut it.”
They fuss over the glasses and the compliment for a while longer. Laughing, Izuku checks the time and his smile fades. “I only have 5 minutes until Power arrives! What do I do? What do I do!”
“Well run goddamn it! What else you braindead nerd?” Katsuki snaps back. Without thinking, he grabs the glasses of Katsuki and they immediately turn off and puts them inside their case in one swift motions and takes off running full speed.
Unluckily for him, he’s stopped by red lights everywhere. His panic becomes more and more prominent in his mind with each second he’s supposed to be running but spends standing.
“Come on!” Katsuki grabs his hand and it’s his turn to drag him. They both run through a few red lights, earning some warning beeps from passing cars and yells from concerned strangers. They arrive at the studio unscathed and Izuku reaches for the key, which he realises is not there. He almost faints on the spot.
“Oi, what the hell!” Katsuki exclaims.
“I failed.”
“You’re not even fucking in there!”
“But Power Loader is and his arrival is the deadline.”
“Don’t you dare give up now shitty nerd!” Katsuki drags an unwilling Izuku inside and both greet Power Loader. Power seems very happy to see them both and looks at Izuku and the briefcase in his hand. “You finally realised the freedom of shirtlessness, eh?” he says in a tone that makes Izuku question if he’s joking or not. He glanced down and realised the single shambled strap that had been holding his overalls on his shoulder had slipped off. “Oh- uhm- I-“ he stuttered, too overwhelmed to fully process what was going on.
“He brought the finished support item.” Katsuki informed Izuku’s teacher.
“No! It’s just a prototype-“ Izuku attempted to correct, but was caught off by Power. “Let’s see it then.”
Izuku gulped and Katsuki squeezed his shoulder as he always does for good luck. “So, I decided to make Eraserhead goggles that are more fit for his quirk. They are tinted black to both match his colour scheme and to not let villains know of his quirk erasure ability or when it’s active. I also added a surrounding area layout that’s outlined with white lines for better vision, since he works during nighttime in close combat, where awareness of space is most needed. The goggles also provide an almost 180 degree field of vision for better vision and to expand his erasure abilities, which were cut off by his previous bulky yellow ones. With a press of this button, they will analyse quirk danger of anyone he can see. It can also zoom into a single person to not hinder other heroes who are trying to help. This concludes my presentation of these goggles I have named ‘Smartglasses.’”
Power seemed to be in deep thought. “You…” he started off bitterly, “know microtechnology and coding?”
“Uhm- I learned the basics recently for this specific item.” Izuku replied nervously. He’s comfortable around his teacher, but during presentations he seems like a completely different person. He’s not horsing around and will ruthlessly point out the faults. The silence was deafening.
Before Power could point anything out, Izuku informed him, “This is only the prototype!” It’s important to declare when an item is a prototype. It means that the developer expects to add or improve some functions or the item’s range of capabilities. The item isn’t complete, therefore, it cannot be evaluated fully.
Katsuki scoffed next to him, “It could pass as a final product.”
“No, it could not!-“
“Hmm…” Power Loader cut through their bickering. He removed his helmet for the first time in front of Izuku and Katsuki, leaving both stunned. Power put on the glasses and watched as the magic happened. White lines showed the silhouettes of everything in his vision, reaching even the farthest parts of the studio. He then pressed the button above his right ear.
“Let’s see the analysing power. Izuku Midoriya - quirkless. Danger level: none.” He then turned to face Bakugou, “Katsuki Bakugou. Danger level - mild.”
“What?” Katsuki grunted, “Only mild? Who do you think I am? I’m the future number one hero, so you better set it to high!”
“Kacchan, you can’t even use your quirk. You don’t have a permit.”
“So? Change it to high!”
Before things could escalate further, Power put on his big excavation helmet and turned to the boys, “I have to say, well done.” Izuku’s eyes darted to his teacher. Power has never told him “well done” in such a straightforward way. He only gazed at him, unaware of the small and proud smile forming on Katsuki’s face.
“I have to say, there could be a few improvements, but to grasp microtechnology and develop it on your own in just a month is amazing in itself. You passed.”
Izuku cheered and jumped around, proud of the prototype that pleased the strict Power Loader. “Kacchan! Kacchan! I did it!”
“I told you he would like it!” Katsuki reminded Izuku but he wasn’t listening anymore, too busy with running and jumping around the tables and spaces in between them. “One more thing, Izuku,” Power continued, “welcome to Yuuei.”
His jumping ceased and his head turned so quickly that he didn’t notice the wire in front of him, on which he tripped and fell face first onto the hard concrete floor. Katsuki ran up to him to make sure he’s okay, but Izuku stood up in lightning speed and wiped his bloody nose. “What did you say?”
“I, Power Loader - teacher of classes F, G and H, deem you worthy of a place in the Support course of Yuuei.”
Izuku gaped at the proclamation. “You- what- a- you- you teach at Yuuei?” He settled on saying. Never before had he heard of something like that. Katsuki was suspiciously calm beside him, not batting an eye at the sudden introduction of him being a Yuuei teacher.
“You didn’t know?” Katsuki smirked at Izuku, acting like he didn’t find that out himself a month ago when Power Loader told him to motivate Izuku, as this will be his entrance exam. Power Loader knew Izuku had the intelligence and creativity to enter this course when he was just five years old, but he wanted to know how he would score on an underground hero’s support item development.
Power Loader watched as Izuku showered Katsuki with compliments and smiled to himself. He’s glad he decided to take interest in him exactly ten years ago today. “What are you two doing? I have cake and juice in the back. Let’s celebrate.”