"Midoriya!"

Izuku was just entering the lab when his name was called. Izuku turned to see it was Mr. Higari who had called him.

"Yes, sir?" Izuku asked as he approached the teacher's lab bench.

"Nezu would like for you to go and see him. Since you are so ahead of the class, he has deemed it appropriate to steal you from me." The tone in his teacher's voice told Izuku that he did not like losing his student to the principal.

"I thought our weekly meeting is supposed to be tomorrow?" Izuku asked. He had just gotten back from his appointment with Hound Dog and was excited to finish planning his latest 'surprise project'.

"Unfortunately Nezu has a board meeting tomorrow, so he asked, no, demanded that I send you to him today." Mr. Higari sighed before handing Izukiu a hall pass. He didn't really need it since the whole staff of U.A. has gotten used to his abnormal schedule, but he took it anyway.

When Izuku arrived at Nezu's office he didn't even bother to knock, knowing Nezu was watching already. He opened the door to see Nezu pouring him some tea, a wide grin on the mammal's face. The grin widened even more as Izuku entered, shutting the door behind him.

"Hello Midoriya!" Nezu said happily. "We've got some very interesting things to talk about today!"

"We do?" Izuku asked curiously as he took his seat across from him.

"Yes, a U.A. alumni called me." As Nezu said this he leaned onto his desk, making Izuku nervous. "He mentioned you proposed a project to him and that he accepted." Izuku showed a look of confusion before it clicked in his mind.

"Oh! Mr. Genji! Yes, I called him the other night." Nezu accepted this and took a sip of his tea before turning serious.

"So, what's the project?" The look in Nezu's eye said that Izuku would not leave this room until Nezu got to see his notes. Slowly, Izuku grabbed his notebook from his bag and opened it to the appropriate page before sliding it across the desk. Nezu's hands were on it immediately as he read through Izuku's notes, a pleased look on his face.

"Wonderful," Nezu said before looking up. "Next week all of your classes will be spent with Mr. Genji working on your project."

"Huh?!?" Izuku looked at him with his mouth gaping open. "B-but... Internships are the week after that! Shouldn't I be preparing with Gran Torino?"

"Oh, Gran Torino will still come in to speak with you while you work if you'd like, but I would like this project down sooner rather than later." Nezu said simply as he returned Izuku's notebook. "If Shinso-kun can train with your support items before class 1-A's practical exam at the end of this semester, he'll have a greater chance at getting into the hero course."

"Wait, Shinso-kun is getting his chance of getting into the hero course at the end of this semester?!" Izuku asked excitedly.

I'll have to tell Shinso lat-

"Yes, but you can't tell him that, of course." Nezu said, cutting off Izuku's thought's. Izuku slumped slightly in his chair. "Anyway, Mr. Genji and yourself will be able to use the lab all week. I've arranged it so that all the engineering classes will be replaced with a surprise sex ed course." Izuku made a face of disgust and Nezu laughed at him.

"I don't have to participate in that, do I?" Izuku asked, hoping the answer would be 'no'.

"Oh, no. That's only for the second and third years. Students your age get their health course next semester." Nezu explained. Izuku sighed, slightly relieved but also nervous for the next semester. "I've planned for a couple third years to go to each first year class to talk about internships the first day and the rest will be filled with presentations from some of the more common agencies and companies that our students will intern at."

"Is this something I will have to participate in?" Izuku asked.

"No, I'm sure you'll learn a lot more with Genji-san." Nezu leaned over and retrieved his tea. "But I will warn you, I am going to be sneaking in to check on your progress."

"I'd expect nothing less, sir."

*****

"Breath, Izuku. Breathe." Izuku muttered to himself. He had tried to hide his nerves from his mother that morning by ranting about the properties of carbon fiber. It didn't really help, Inko knowing how to read her son like a book, but it had momentarily distracted him. Now he was on his way to the lab to meet Shoyo Genji, an award winning support engineer and a U.A. alumni.

As Izuku opened the door to the lab he saw a man around the same height as Aizawa-sensei unpacking a bag of tools. He had his back to him but he could see the teal colour of the man's skin and his long blue hair that he had tied back in a bun. He was wearing a white lab coat with 'Team Idaten' written on the back with the agency logo. Before Izuku could make any more observations about the man, he turned around.

"Ah! Midoriya, is it?" Genji asked enthusiastically.

"Y-yes sir! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Izuku said, just as excitedly. He shook the man's outstretched hand before laying his bag on one of the chairs. Looking around he noticed that they had moved some of the lab benches together to make a larger bench for them to work on.

"It's good to meet you too, kid. How bout we start with you telling me those amazing ideas of yours? Sound good?" Genji asked as he took a seat. He pulled out an old notebook that Izuku thought must be at least a five years old.

"I wouldn't say they're amazing..." Izuku said shyly as he pulled out his own notebook.

"Don't be modest, kid. It won't do you any good when you're making proposal's." Genji took a sip from his mug, which Izuku suspected had coffee from the smell. "You're a U.A. student and have multiple teachers' attention. That gives you reason to have some confidence."

"Well, I guess so." Izuku opened his notebook to the drawing of Aizawa's capture weapon. He had multiple notes attached to it and he started with the one he was most confident in. "My first idea was to add fire retardant to the inner layer of carbon fire to reduce the risk of the weapon catching fire. I know Aizawa can just cancel the quirk of anyone with a fire quirk, but Shinso can't."

"I agree, even though Shota should be able to do that, I remember a time he didn't and I had to replace the weapon." Genji said, a small smile on his face. "Hizashi and I made fun of him for a week afterwards. He was so busy erasing the quirk of someone who could liquify organic matter that he totally missed seeing the guy come up behind him."

"Really? I can't imagine Aizawa making that kind of mistake." Izuku said with a small laugh.

"Oh trust me, Shota wasn't always such a talented hero. It took him six years to master his capture weapon all by himself. I told him I could design something else for him, but he was too stubborn." Genji then pulled out his phone and gave it to Izuku who took it. It was a picture with a young Shota Aizawa tangled up in his capture weapon with his quirk activated, glaring somewhere next to the camera.

He's most likely glaring at Yamada-sensei.

"Anyway, we better get back on track." Genji said as Izuku handed him his phone back.

"Right, my second idea was to include a spare roll of the capture weapon on Shinso's utility belt. I know Eraserhead likes to use his capture weapon to restrain villains after they've been caught, but then he can't move away from them." Izuku continued. Genji continued to write in his notebook, nodding along as Izuku spoke. "And since carbon fibre is so strong, it would be better to use that than regular rope. Plus if anything does happen to his original capture weapon, all he'll have to do is unroll his other one."

"A good backup, I like it." Genji added. "Anything else?"

"Nothing to do with the capture weapon, really.. But I do have other ideas for Shinso-kun's costume and other support items?"

"Well get to it, I'd love to hear them."

Izuku smiled at the engineer. He reminded him of Yamada-sensei's humour and Higari-sensei's willingness to listen to Izuku's ideas. He can see why he would be the perfect neutral friend for Yamada and Aizawa.

Though I'm starting to think Yamada-sensei and Aizawa-sensei are more than friends...

"My friend Mei and I have designed a voice-modifier. It will be able to take in sound waves and mimic them. This way Shinso will be able to trick villains who already know his quirk into talking." Izuku said proudly. Out of all of his and Mei's collaborated ideas, this one was definitely the best. And by the impressed look on Genji-san's face, Izuku thinks he agrees.

"That's impressive, kid. Is she the one who will be stopping by during the afternoons to join us?" Genji asked.

"Yes, she is." Izuku said with a nod. "We've also designed him a pair of boots that are a mixture of my 'Anti-gravity Shoes' and Mei's 'Electromagnetic Soles'. With them he'll be able to jump higher and have better footwork. Other than that, it's mostly just common support items he can keep in his utility belt."

"And you're a first year... right?" Genji asked, looking at Izuku skeptically. Izuku couldn't help himself and smiled widely.

"Yes sir, and so is Mei-chan." Izuku answered proudly.

"Man, kids come in even smarter now, huh?" Genji said with a laugh. "I can't say I was this smart when I got into U.A. Sure I was good in the maths and sciences, but other than that I just liked blowing stuff up. Thought if I got into a career where I can do that both purposefully and accidentally would be nice."

"Blowing stuff up?!?" Izuku asked, surprised at the confession. "That's why you went into the support field? To blow stuff up?" Genji laughed as Izuku stared at him with his shocked expression.

Note: Don't introduce Kacchan and Genji-san.

"In my defence, I only exploded things under my Dad's supervision growing up. It was kind of a bonding thing, you know?"

Izuku didn't know, not from experience, anyway. But then he remembered how Bakugo and Uncle Masaru had always bonded over cooking, so maybe it wasn't so odd.

"I guess..." Izuku said hesitantly. "Um, anyway. Would you like to see the costume design?"

"Yes please!" Genji said excitedly. To Izuku, he looked like a puppy who was just offered a treat. Izuku slid his notebook over with the design open. It was rather simple in Izuku's eyes, but he knew Shinso would appreciate simplicity.

Mimicking Eraserhead's costume, it was a pair of black pants and a black long sleeved shirt. There were two strips of dark purple on either side on the pant legs and the sleeves. The utility belt was also black, but had the same dark purple on it. Izuku had designed the purple lines to randomly travel across the belt. The boots were the same purple with black laces and soles. Izuku also added a pair of black fingerless gloves and of course, the capture weapon and voice modifier.

"You're pretty talented in the art department too, huh kid? Man, when I started it was just stick figures with word bubbles next to them." Genji said as he looked over the design.

"Y-yeah, I really enjoy the costume design part. It's my main focus, really." Genji nodded and looked over the design one more time before standing.

"Well, we only have a week so let's get started. I've got the main supplies for the capture weapon and I'm sure we can find some sort of fire retardant around here. If not we can fix one up ourselves!" Genji said as he walked over to a large case in the corner of the room. Izuku quickly went over to his locker and put on a pair of overalls before searching for a fire retardant in one of the cupboards. Once he found one he liked and that wouldn't affect any of the carbon fibres, he brought it over to Genji-san.

"Good choice." The man said as he took it. He then gave Izuku a pair of gloves and goggles before leading him through the process of weaving the fibres together. Genji had brought one of his own machines to help the process and Izuku fell in love with it instantly. It was a mixture of a sewing machine and a welding gun.

Once Izuku got the hang of it and had done it long enough to be satisfied, Genji took over to let Izuku work on some of the other necessities. Looking over his notes, Izuku decided to start with the shoes since Mei had called dibs on the voice modifier. Walking over to one of the supply cabinets, Izuku grabbed a few electromagnetic plates to go into the soles as well as any other materials he needed to start.

By the time lunch rolled around, Izuku was fairly confident in the two soles he had made, only shocking himself once. Genji had also made progress and had the first inner lair of carbon fibre finished and coated in fire retardant. Overall, a very successful morning. Genji placed the line of fibre down and walked over to Izuku's bench, looking at the ttwo soles on the table (though they didn't look like them yet.

"Nice work, kid." Genji said as he picked it up carefully. "You really welded this all together in one morning? Man you work fast."

"Thank you, Genji-san." Izuku said with a smile. "My old teacher taught me how to weld when I was in middle school. I've had lots of practice since then."

"I can tell." Genji looked like he was about to say something else, but the door to the lab suddenly flew open and a vibrant cockatoo and pygmy puff came bashing in.

"Sorry we're late!" the two yelled as they approached the stunned support engineer and student.

"There was a bit of a line in the caf-" Mei started.

"But we brought your favourites!" Present Mic finished. Izuku peered over at Genji-san to see a fond smile on the man's face as Present Mic offered him one of the trays he was carrying. Looking back over to Mei, he wore a similar smile as he saw the katsudon on the tray she offered to him.

"We thought you two might be hungry working so hard on making your babies together!" Bad timing, Genji-san was just taking a sip of juice when Mei said that and spat it out in surprise, resulting in Present Mic and the two students sharing a laugh at the man's face.

"Don't worry Shoyo, that's Hatsume's way of saying inventions!" Present Mic cleared up. Genji visibly relaxed at hearing this. "Sorry Shota isn't here. I tried to convince him to come, but he was adamant that he had to have his noon-time nap."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Genji said with a laugh. "I still have my suspicions that he naps during classes too."