chapter 42
Izuku races into the labs on the Monday after the Sports Festival, his notebook in hand as he makes his way to his table. MeiMei has yet to arrive, but that's fine, he can just begin working without her.
She won't like it, obviously, but he needs to get working or he's probably going to lose focus and get distracted with something that's not his inventions.
Izuku is nose deep and zoned in on screwing in the last screw to his invention when a voice that's noticeably not MeiMei's speaks up from next to him. His brain doesn't compute what the voice actually says but it does recognize it as something that's not supposed to be in the labs as early as he is.
That's why, when his hand loses its grip on his new and improved gas bomb and on immediate contact with the ground ( another thing he'll need to fix apparently ) it explodes and Izuku begins coughing.
" Shit ." He curses through coughs.
He stands from his stool and hurries to the windows, opening them all and then hurrying to the fan and turning it on when he aims it towards the open windows. When the gas is cleared, he looks at the owner of the voice that made him drop his bomb and sees Goldie, standing sheepishly near his workbench.
"Sorry. I didn't think you would get startled, or that that would happen." Goldie says, rubbing the nape of his neck.
Izuku sighs. "It's fine, honestly it helped to know that it exploded on impact with the ground. It's something I'm going to have to fix, but how would I go about doing it—"
Denki watches as Izuku's words fall off into a mutterstorm. He doesn't know what expression he wears as he watches Izuku begin to move around the classroom, looking for things Denki doesn't even know the name of.
All he knows is he could watch Izuku do what he does forever and be happy. He thinks a small part of him would be fine staying friends if only he got to watch Izuku, but a larger part of him knows that being friends and only ever being friends would hurt a lot.
Denki doesn't know how long he stands there, watching the green haired boy flit around the classroom when he's suddenly knocked over by said boy.
"Ah! Sorry! Forgot you were here! Why didn't you say something? No, not important. Do you need anything? Do you need costume upgrades? Did we already talk about that? Let me check my notes." Denki watches as Izuku rushes back to his work station and looks through the mess on it before he pulls something that's noticeably not a notebook out from it. "Oh! There it is! I was looking for that! I thought I had lost it! No, wait, costume plans for Goldie."
Izuku sets the object down and starts flipping through his notebook once he locates it, mumbling the nickname he gave Denki while doing it.
"No plans but I do have suggestions." Izuku says eventually, coming back toward Denki and showing him the suggestions.
"See, I looked at your original design and what you asked for and it was essentially just clothes you could buy at the store, just higher quality fabric, which, not good. Have you ever thought of using less electricity like a taser? You don't have to go all out every time you use your quirk or else you'll be a one-and-done hero and won't make it very long in the industry."
"Uh, no. I thought I'd have to use all of it." Izuku writes something down, though what it is, Denki couldn't say.
"Can you use it on one part of your body like your hand or the tips of your fingers or is it only all spread out?"
"Uh, I never tried it?"
"Alright! Test time then!" Izuku says, eyes sparkling. "Here, hold my hand, I doubt if you use it just in one place and only in a small amount we'll be able to tell, like when you go all out, so I want to see."
Denki, cheeks heating up, reaches out and grabs the other boy's hand, holding it in his own.
"How- how do I…How should I do this?" Denki asks.
"Dunno." Izuku shrugs. "Focus, I guess. Like on your output and where you want it to come from."
Denki nods, ignoring the heat of his cheeks and focuses. Or tries to at least.
It's really hard to focus when the boy he's head-over-heels crushing on is holding his hand like it's no big deal. But he wants to get this right. He wants Izuku to get as much information from him as he can even though it's only for his quirk. But it will also mean they'll get to be together when designing and working out the flaws of his costume.
Denki reaches for his quirk nestled behind his ribs and tries to push it through to his palm, only using a small amount. Hopefully it doesn't hurt if this works.
Mei did not think she would walk into the support labs and see her best friend holding hands with Human-Taser-kun.
She tilted her head, unsure as to the reason before she saw ZuZu's eyes widen in the way they do when he finds the answer to something.
Almost immediately after, ZuZu lets go of Human-Taser-kun's hand and picks up his notebook, scribbling excitedly.
Human-Taser-kun has a weird look on his face, but Mei could care less.
She wants to see what ZuZu is up to!
"ZuZu!" Mei shouts, bounding forward and latching on to her best friend ever. ZuZu takes her sudden addition of weight easily and without blinking all while greeting her.
"Hello MeiMei."
"What cha' doing?" Mei asks, peeking over her friend's shoulder.
"Documenting Goldie's quirk." ZuZu says, tongue peaking out from the corner of his mouth in that way it does when he's especially focused.
Mei doesn't move from the boy's back and reads the words as he writes them.
Test 1 : Slight shock akin to touching someone after rubbing yours and their socked feet on a carpet. Possible higher voltage with training or high voltage being held back by the user. Voltage : 50V
"Goldie." ZuZu says suddenly.
"Uh! Yes!" Human-Taser-kun squeaks.
"Here." ZuZu holds out his hand and Mei notices the bracelet they worked on together a while ago to record the voltage sent through the muscles on his wrist. "Shock me again, but try upping the voltage to 50,000. If not, try 25,000."
"Uh, okay?" Human-Taser-kun says, taking ZuZu's hand. ZuZu doesn't look up from his notebook, still writing, but Mei watches, fascinated, as lightning gathers around Human-Taser-kun's body before traveling down his arm and to his hand that is holding her best friend's hand.
ZuZu's hand seizes as the muscles in it absorb the electricity and to her friend's credit, he doesn't drop the pencil in his other hand, though his muscles in his back do tense up as well. ZuZu pulls his hand away and looks at his wrist before writing down more information.
Mei looks back to her friend's notebook.
Test 2 : Higher voltage of shock caused muscles in the arm to contract and back muscles to tense. Was still able to retain hold of my pencil. Voltage : 35,000V
"Alright, now try to make it so I drop my pencil." ZuZu says, holding his hand out once again.
Human-Taser-kun hesitantly reaches out and Mei watches as the process is repeated. This time, the whole of ZuZu's back tenses as the muscles contract and he actually drops his pencil. ZuZu grabs a different pencil and continues writing.
Test 3 : Higher voltage of shock caused muscles in both arms and entirety of back to contract and seize. Dropped pencil. Voltage : 60,000V
"Well, I can work with this." ZuZu says.
"Babies?" Mei asks, knowing that, yes, there will most likely be more babies to be made, but that doesn't mean her friend will let her help.
"Yes, and I'd actually appreciate your help. There's a lot we need to do in a short amount of time as their next Practical Heroics class is in three days and while I could probably do it myself, I'd rather not."
"Yes!" Mei shouts, jumping from her friend's back. She runs to her workspace and sorts through all of her stuff looking for her notebook.
Pulling it out from the bottom of a pile of stuff without toppling the whole pile, she runs back to ZuZu.
"Let's get started then!"
Denki's hand burns from the contact it made with Izuku's hand. He knows Izuku only thought of it as a means to an end for an experiment, but Denki got to hold his hand!
Oh Kami! Oh Kami! Oh Kami!
Denki feels a smile pull at his cheeks as he hurries to his classroom.
Best start to a day, ever!
Made by:truen o'steen