My Hero Studios

By: Eternal Love Song

AU where "My Hero Academia" is an in universe tv show and the

characters are all actors. This what they are all really like and they interact
when they aren't on screen.

Status: ongoing

Published: 2018-04-12

Updated: 2018-05-16

Words: 13220

Chapters: 5

Rated: Fiction T - Language: English - Characters: Izuku M., Katsuki B. -

Reviews: 20 - Favs: 56 - Follows: 72

Original source: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12901140/1/My-Hero-Studios

Exported with the assistance of FicHub.net

My Hero Studios
Introduction
Before The Opening Credits
Episode One and Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
Episode Five
Before The Opening Credits
"Good morning everyone," Izuku greeted his coworkers as he
entered the break room on set. The room was half filled with co
workers, both known and unknown. This wasn't his first time on set,
but it was his first time getting to act on such a big project. Since he
was little he'd been allowed on set as an extra or just able to hang
around and watch how everything worked, so he was fairly
comfortable here. He walked to one the tables and sat beside his
best friend, who slid him a cup of coffee.

"Hey, Izuku. How's it going?" Katsuki asked.

"Whoa," Izuku exclaimed without meaning too. He had noticed that

his friend was already in costume, but he was still stunned for a
moment seeing the red of his friend's eyes. Now that he was paying
attention, the spike hair was a little odd on him as well. "Are those
contacts?"

"Yeah, they want me to wear them on the set." Katsuki answered. He

smiled sheepishly as he finger a stiff lock of his hair. "I look awful,
don't I?"

"N-no!" Izuku protested right away. "Not… terrible." He hastily

brought the cup of coffee to lips, extremely grateful when it didn't
burn his tongue.

Katsuki noticed the obvious avoidance and sighed. "You don't have
to lie."

"I was just surprised," Izuku said. "You look, um, kinda… scary." He
knew that his friend could be kinda sensitive sometimes and he
didn't want to be too harsh.

"He's supposed to look scary." Katsuki's older cousin, Yuu

Takeyama, said as she dropped into a seat next to him. "He is
playing a villain after all."

"He's not a villain," Izuku protested. "Just an… anti hero, maybe…"

Katsuki sighed again. He wrapped his hand around his own cup of
coffee and started forlornly into the dark liquid. "Maybe I shouldn't
have taken this role."

"Too late to back out now," She told him. "Besides, you're a good
actor. You got this."

Izuku placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You'll do great."

Katsuki smiled at him. "Thanks man."

"This is so stupid," The leading lady, Ochako Uraraka, groaned as

she stormed across the room. "I'm the most important girl in the cast!
Why do I only get, like, ten seconds in this opening sequence?"

"This is a large cast," One of the others explained, Izuku wasn't sure
who since he hadn't had the chance to meet the entire cast yet. "We
have to split the time evenly."

"I'm the leading lady! I should have just as much time as he does,"
She pointed to Izuku. She had one hand on her hip, pouting as she
looked around at them all. Ochako was a bit of a diva, he had
learned, but it was mostly harmless.

"Calm down all!" A loud booming voice said as the door was thrown
open. "Because I AM HERE!" Posing in the door way was "All
Might", already dressed in his hero costume and looking larger than
life. Behind him, his smaller twin brother Toshinori pushed past him
to enter the room.

"Would you give it a rest," Toshinori said. He looked mildly annoyed

by his twins actions, but the larger man didn't seem affected in the
slightest.
"But this is so much fun!" He replied. Izuku wasn't sure what his
name was, since he insisted that everyone just call him All Might.
Izuku was okay with that. It was easier than having to remember
even more names.

"That guy's gonna be a joy to work with," Takeyama said with a

smirk. "I'm kinda glad that I'll be on set for it."

"Huh? Did you get a bigger part?" Izuku asked.

"No, I'll just looking out for my little cousin," She replied, playfully
poking Katsuki's cheek with a smile.

He returned the smile as he pushed her hand away. "Hey, cut it out.
I'm trying to get in character."

"We're just shooting the opening, you'll be fine." She replied.

"Hey, anyone else feel like their costume is kinda… weird?" The guy
that spoke was already in costume. He had spiked red hair and
Izuku was pretty sure the name was on the tip of his tongue, but he
couldn't place it.

"What's wrong with it?" One of the girls asked. She was wearing a
red leotard and had her hair pulled into a spiky ponytail. "Does it not
fit? Is something broken?"

"That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

The guy sighed. "Nothing, forget I mentioned it."

There was a knock on the door before his dad stuck his head in the
room. Their eyes met and Hisashi smiled at him. His dad was the
director of this project and Izuku was happy that he was finally
getting the chance to be in one of his father's productions. "Is
everyone present?"
"They wouldn't be able to say if they weren't," Toshinori answered.

"Forgive me for thinking some of you may have answered on behalf

of your coworkers," Hisashi said.

"I think we're all here, dad." Izuku answered.

Takeyama pinch his side lightly. "Be professional," She scolded him
with a smile.

"Right," Izuku replied with an eye roll. "We're all here, Director."

"Thank you, Izuku." His dad smiled.

"I have some concerns about my character," Ochako spoke up.

"Namely, I don't think she's getting the attention that she deserves."

"All Might, Izuku, I need you two on set first," Hisashi said. He
spared the leading lady a glance as he added, "I'll listen to your
concerns while they get ready."

Ochako smiled. Izuku wasn't sure if the expression was cute or

smug. He rose from the table, bumping Katsuki as he did so. "Wish
me luck."

"You don't need it," Katsuki replied. "But good luck anyway."

Izuku smiled brightly as he went off toward the set.

A/N: I got the idea for Bakugo and Mount Lady being cousins
from a tumblr found found here: post/158773333838/a-concept-
bakugou-and-mt-lady-being-shitty
Episode One and Two
Izuku entered the set to the sound of All Might laughing. His co star
wasn't in the room and Izuku was a little surprised that the sound
carried so far, as well as impressed at the natural boom of the man's
voice. He had a feeling that this would become a common
occurrence, knowing how energetic and boisterous the larger twin
was. Izuku followed the sound to the dressing room that the two
twins shared.

"Would you cut that out," Toshinori said in a grumpy voice.

Izuku poked his head into the room, peering curiously through the
open doorway. All Might had his back to the door as Toshinori sat in
one of the chairs being attended to by one of the make up artist. He
was shirtless and the girl was on her knees as she worked to create
his scar. She was pale with silver colored hair and seemed to shrink
into herself despite being ignored by everyone in the room.

All Might pouted at his twin. "But I have to practice, Toshi. I have to
tell the world that I Am Here!" He insisted with his booming voice.

"Would you please cut the theatrics?" Toshinori rolled his eye.

"But! But! IT's my character!" All Might whined.

"Save it for the stage, you big idiot."

Toshi… I need to practice!"

"Ugh," Toshinori groaned. "It's too early for this."

Watching the two of them together was almost a show in and of

itself. It was a shame that the two of them would never be on screen
together.
The door was opened wider as Takeyama came up behind him. "Are
you two at it again?" The twins turned toward the door, Toshinori
looking unamused and All Might smiling brightly. Izuku waved at
them. "The director wants you on set."

"I'm not the one holding us up," Toshinori said. He pointed to the
make up artist on her knees that was still working on the scar. The
pale, silver haired girl shrank into herself.

"Ah. I'm sorry." Her voice was so low that it sounded like she was
whispering. "I'm trying to go as fast as I can. I didn't mean to hold up
the production. I just wanted to do my best, please forgive my slow
work and lack of skills and-"

"Ugh, don't do this again." Toshinori groaned. "I swear, you say even
so much as look at her, she becomes a waterfall of apologies."

The girl's hands began to shake as they hovered in front of the scar
she'd created on Toshinori's skin. "Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Sorry…" The
whispered apologies continued to spill from her lips.

"Uh…" Takeyama and Izuku exchanged a look.

"Don't be so shaken, Reiko!" All Might told her, placing a hand on her
shoulder as he attempted to comfort the girl. She didn't jump or
move, but she fell silent instantly. "My brother is just grumpy. Do your
best to ignore him. He is not a morning person."

"Just finish the scar," Toshinori groaned impatiently.

"Yes, sorry…" The girl said softly.

"And don't start that up again."

The girl, Reiko, fell silent and went back to work.

"You catch more flies with honey, Toshi." All Might told him.
Toshinori looked at his brother like he was an idiot. "Why would I
want to catch flies?"

"It's an expression."

"It's dumb."

Takeyama sighed. "They're like this every time, I swear. " She looked
to Izuku and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, they
need us on set."

"Right behind you," Izuku told her. "See you two on set." He said
over his shoulder.

"See you soon, young Midoriya!" All Might proclaimed.

"You don't have to wait for me."

"But Toshi!"

Izuku shook his head at the continued theatrics.

"See you soon, kid." Toshinori said.

Katsuki hugged him as soon as they were done filming the

classroom scene. Izuku gave him an indulgent smile, patting his
friend on the back. "Come on, Katsuki. I'm fine, I promise."

"I didn't meant it, you know." Katsuki said softly.

"I know you didn't," Izuku assured him. "It's fine."

"I can't believe I'm playing a character that would tell someone to kill
themselves." Katsuki reluctantly released Izuku from his hug. "I
thought we were supposed to be heroes."

"Yeah, that's really messed up." Takeyama said. She walked over to
her cousin, placing a hand on his head. "What's the audience for this
show?"

"I'll talk to the writers about it," Hisashi said.

Katsuki wrapped his arms around his cousin's waist and she pulled
back slightly and blanched. "Come on, kid, don't cling." She said
softly.

Izuku laughed. "Kacchan is too soft for this role."

Katsuki whipped his head around to look at Izuku with an expression

of wide eyed devastation. "You can't call me that! It's sullied with
memories of abuse!"

"What? But it's kinda cute," Izuku teased.

"No way," Katsuki insisted. "If you call me that, I'll always be thinking
about that time I told you to kill yourself."

"That wasn't real, Katsu." Izuku reminded.

"My feelings about it are!"

Izuku and Takeyama both sighed and shrugged. Hisashi walked over
to the group and placed a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "We're filming
All Might's scene next. You kids take a break."

"Thanks, dad." Izuku said.

"Oh, and Katsuki?" His best friend stopped and gave the director a
questioning look, waiting for his statement. "I know it's hard, but you
need to get a little more in character. You smiled a little too much in
that previous scene. You need to get mean, get grumpy. Don't think
of Izu as your best friend."

Katsuki looked dejected, but nodded. "I'll try."

"That a boy!" Hisashi pat him on the back. "Izu, your mom made a
lunch run while you were filming. It should be in dressing your room."
"Alright."

"Ugh. This is absolutely disgusting." Katsuki groaned as he flung

muck off of himself. The set was a mess from the thick muck of the
'villain' that had held them captive and the mess was everywhere.

Hisashi had an amused grin on his face as he looked them over.

"That's why it was the last scene of the day, so that you can clean up
directly afterwards."

"Yeah, this was pretty messy," All Might agreed, wiping the fake
blood from his mouth.

"You all did great today!" Hisashi congratulated.

"Some of us did better than others," Takeyama said as she

sauntered over to one of her co workers and leaned on his shoulder.
"Kamui Wood, right?"

The man rubbed the back of his head nervously, still heavily covered
in his brown make up. "Um, it's Shinji Nishiya."

"Let's not get that personal, Kamui."

"Huh?" The man floundered, peering at Takeyama more closely. "But

we- weren't you… um…"

Takeyama leaned closer to him. "Just call me Mount Lady, okay?"

She winked.

"That's my exit signal," Izuku announced. He looped an arm through

his best friend's and tugged him along. "Let's get out of here before
we have to watch your cousin flirt."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Katsuki said. "This stuff is rank."

"It's cool, right?" They both jumped as a girl wearing goggles leaped
into their path, standing much too close to their faces. "You're totally
impressed, right?"

"Uh…"

"Who?"

"I'm The Great Special Effects Technician, Mei!" She announced

proudly, complete with small fire works going off behind her.

"Don't waste supplies Mei," Someone scolded halfheartedly.

"Look, we just wanna take a shower right now," Izuku told her,
attempting to side step the girl and her display.

"Of course they don't appreciate our talents!" Another voice

exclaimed before a boy was suddenly standing in their faces and
yelling at them. "They think that they're too good to talk to the rest of
us. First episode hasn't even aired yet and already their egos have
eclipsed all aspects of their personalities."

"You're going overboard, Monoma," The same voice from earlier

said.

"We are the technical geniuses of this project and we deserve

respect!" The boy, Monoma, declared loudly.

Katsuki and Izuku looked at each other with matching dumbfounded

expressions. Why was everyone working on this project so…
eccentric?

Mei squeezed herself between the two boys. "So, wanna hear how
we did it?" She asked.

"I just want a shower," Katsuki said helplessly. Judging from the
smudges and smears all over her, Izuku had a feeling that she would
not be able to relate to the feeling.

Monoma was the one to respond. "What? Afraid that the explanation
will go over your heads? That it will be too much for your feeble
minds to comprehend? Is our greatness just too astonishingly mind
boggling for you? The stars of the show afraid of letting anyone else
have a little attention."

Izuku gave them both an unimpressed stare. He was too filthy and
too patient to even attempt to humor them. He looped his arm with
Katsuki's once more and began to pull him as he walked off. "I'm
going to my dressing room and I'm going to take a shower," Izuku
stated firmly. "I don't care what the two of you do. You can stad
outside the stall and rant at me the entire time if you want, but I'm
taking my shower."

Monoma looked like he was going to start up again and Izuku was
already annoyed anout it, but Mei beat him to the punch. She
launched into a long, excited explanation of what special effects she
used and how she used them, and Izuku honestly just tuned her out
while he made his way to the dressing rooms. He refused to be
furthered delayed.

Katsuki was able to leave for his own dressing room without being
followed. Izuku was glad. He was pretty sure his best friend would be
too considerate to kick her out and shower if he was followed, or else
be delayed half an hour while he tried to close the door on her
without being rude. After the day he's had, Katsuki deserved to be
able to shower in peace. Izuku just didn't care, not at the moment.

That was how Izuku ended up showering to the sounds of a

pyrotechnics lecture and, incidentally, how he became friends with
Mei.
Episode Three
The set was Izuku's personal disaster. His mother was on set with
him and his father had gotten a much slower start due to talking with
her. That wouldn't usually be bad. In fact, that would usually be
great. Izuku loved seeing his parents being cute on set together. His
father ended up in a better mood throughout the day because she
usually brought him breakfast or lunch, they chatted so amiably that
it could often life the mood of those around them, and it was just nice
to have them in the same place for longer periods of time than
normal. His father was really busy and this was a neat way to
circumvent that.

No, the problem was that from the moment he stepped foot in the
studio, he had people talking at him. Mei found him from the moment
he entered to launch into a long lecture about the special effects that
would need to be used in the episode, Ochako showed up ranting
about how small her part in the episode would be, one of the actors
was the loudest person that Izuku had ever heard in his life, and that
only got worse when All Might showed up and the two started talking
to each other.

"I'm gonna die," Izuku groaned to himself. He curled up in a ball and

covered his ears with his hands.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Ochako demanded. She was glaring
at down at him, both of them ignoring the constant stream of words
that were falling from Mei's mouth as she gestured enthusiastically.
Mei had the the excuse that he wasn't looking at them, but he
wondered that that their talking didn't seem to deter at all.

"No!" Izuku answered promptly. "I don't know why you're telling me
this. I'm not in charge of the script or casting or literally anything that
could help you."
"The director is your dad!" She said. She placed her hands on her
hips as she continued to glare at him. "Tell him that I should have a
bigger part!"

"Why would I do that? I haven't even seen you act yet," He replied.
He was getting a headache. This could have been a good day,
should have been a good day, but instead he was going to die an
early death. Mei was still talking to him, despite the fact that he was
covering his ears and having a conversation with another person.
Was she even paying attention at this point? Was she just on
autopilot? And why was All Might's voice so loud? Who was this
equally loud blonde that he was blabbing to?

"That's part of the problem!" She yelled, adding to Izuku's headache.

"I should have been in the first episode or at least had a large cameo
so that the audience could feel my presence."

"You're just the love interest!" He argued. He shouldn't be

participating in this conversation. There was no merit to it. It was just
really hard to ignore someone being so in his face.

"Just the love interest!" She repeated in obvious and overstated

offense. "I'll tell you what-" She cut off when Katsuki appeared
behind her, grabbing her head in one hand and pulling her back. He
also slapped a hand over Mei's mouth, lowering the noise level in the
room somewhat.

"Don't crowd him like that," Katsuki said. "And your yelling is hurting
his ears."

Ochako maneuvered out of his grasp. It wasn't hard since Katsuki

was only trying to get her attention and not hold her in place, and
she spun on her heel to glare at him. "Who are you to tell me what to
do?"

"I'm his best friend," Katsuki said simply. "And harassing him won't
get you a better part."
"I'm not harassing him," Ochako replied. "I was talking to him. We
were having a conversation."

"He was covering his ears," Katsuki pointed out. "You didn't think that
was a hint that you were too loud or that he didn't want to talk to
you?"

Ochako's face reddened. "I… Well…" She seemed to finally realize

that she had over stepped or maybe she was just embarrassed to be
called out on it. Izuku couldn't tell and didn't feel like trying to
decipher her motives.

Mei moved Katsuki's hand away from her mouth. "I bet I have some
stage props that could help with that," She said.

"Please," Izuku replied.

"I'll be right back," Mei said as she went off.

Izuku let out a relieved sigh. "Thank god." He smiled at Katsuki.

"Thank you."

Katsuki sat down beside him. "What's up? You look like you're
loosing it."

"Everything is conspiring against me today," Izuku explained. "My

eardrums are gonna explode."

"I wasn't that loud…" Ochako insisted quietly.

They both looked up at her with questioning expressions. Katsuki

was the one to voice what both boys were thinking. "Did you want
something else?"

She looked like she definitely wanted to say more, but giving the
reactions they'd had to her, she opted to just shake her head and
walk off. Izuku let his head rest of his best friends shoulder. "Hey.
Wanna be my understudy?" Izuku asked. "I think I need to go home
early before this day kills me."
Katsuki smiled. "Sorry dude. You're gonna have to tough it out on
your own."

Izuku grumbled a little.

Mei showed up with earplugs, making her raise in his esteem

significantly. "Thanks." He told her.

"No problem." She smiled at him before going off. Well, at least she
was capable of learning, even if she did seem oblivious to most
forms of social etiquette.

Re-shoots was the word of the day. Izuku let out a loud noise as
protest as his new least favorite co-star began rapidly chopping the
air and making very aggressive hand gestures, forever making Izuku
unsure whether it was a character action that he was repeating or a
normal habit that he'd mixed up with his character.

"Once more, please. I know that I can get that done better." Choppy
Arms insisted. Izuku still hadn't learned his name and it honestly
amused him more to call him by a nickname anyway. Especially
when he was single handedly holding them up from being done for
the day.

"Yeah! Let's go!" The loudest actor ever agreed with him. This guy,
whose voice was actually louder than All Might, which was one of the
most unfortunate things that Izuku would ever have to deal with it on
set, was playing a character called Present Mic. Izuku knew this
because he had the line in which the character was named. A line
which he had been made to repeat six or seven times now. That
name was possibly as engraved in his voice as the voice was.

"This is the eight time," Katsuki objected. "It's one line. You don't
need to keep doing it." It wasn't, strictly speaking, one line, but it was
close enough. Ith should not take this many times to get such a small
part correct and Izuku wasn't convinced that it did. Whatever Choppy
thought he was doing wrong, Izuku couldn't see it.
"I just feel that my performance could be improved upon," Choppy
Hands insisted. "I would hate to bring down the entire production
because I gave a sub par performance."

"Wha?" Katsuki looked at him like he was crazy. "It's one line!"

"One should always put their best foot forward, no matter how small
the endeavor." He insisted. He said this with such earnestness and
determination that Izuku was pretty he was sincere. That was
probably worse than if he was doing this for vanity or attention
seeking. This meant he was more likely to repeat his behavior later.
Izuku wanted exactly no part in that.

"Ugh," Izuku groaned loudly. "Director, may I be excused? This is

dumb."

Hisashi smiled at him, amused by his son's antics but trying not to
laugh. Choppy Hands frowned, of course, but Izuku could not care
less about upsetting Choppy at this point. Not when they'd had to do
so many re-shoots. So many unneeded re-shoots! Izuku was not
certain why his father was indulging this.

"I do think we've done enough re-shoots," Hisashi said kindly. "We
can look over the footage and tell you which performance was best,
Iida."

Choppy bowed deeply, stiffly. Izuku was not certain that he wasn't
actually just a robot created just for this part. In fact, that would
explain why his father was indulging the re-shoots. The robot needed
to learn human responses and reactions better, this was the perfect
training environment. "Thank you very much, it is an honor-" Izuku
tuned out the rest. He turned to look at Katsuki.

"We're gonna have to work with this guy all the time," Izuku
complained. He would wait until later to share his robot theory, in
case it was a secret. "Can you imagine if he's like this every time?"
"Your dad wouldn't let him do this every time," Katsuki said. His face
did not look certain however.

"What's this? One of the stars uncertain of their performance?" Izuku

let his head fall into Katsuki's shoulder instead of face planting on
the desk at the sound of Monoma's voice. Izuku hoped that if they
didn't feed into it the boy would get bored or deflate, but of course
Choppy Arms would engage.

"Uncertainty is a sign that I care deeply about the structure and

quality of this project!"

"Oh? You're such a narcissist that you think this entire project hinges
on your shoulders alone?" Monoma questioned. He was standing
face to face with Karate Chop, which Izuku thought put him at a
heavy disadvantage. Not only was Karate Chop taller, but he had
kung fu grip and could take Monoma out with one well placed action.
It was sadly unlikely that Choppy would use that move, but there was
always a chance that it could happen by accident. How strong were
robots?

Hisashi sighed as he surveyed the conflict. "Izuku. Katsuki. You can

take a break. I'll deal with things here."

"Thank you!" Izuku said, standing up immediately. Katsuki laughed

as he followed suit. "I need rest before I break all my limbs."

"That's not until next episode," Hisashi told him.

"Yeah, at this rate it will be," Izuku laughed. "Let's get out of here
before someone else shows up to yell."

"As long as we're airing our grievances," Ochako said from the
sidelines, quickly making her way forward.

"Nope, no, not this time," Izuku said as he grabbed Katsuki's sleeve
and power walked away. "I refuse to be privy to more arguing today."
"Everyone is really worked up today," Katsuki pointed out. "I'm kinda
surprised."

"I'm kind of annoyed," Izuku said. "This is only the third episode and
I've had like five different people yelling in my direction. If this is what
the whole shoot will be like, I hope they kill off my character and let
Divako become the main character."

"I'm sure it won't be this bad all the time," Katsuki said. "All of our co-
stars can't be crazy."

"Izuku!" Mei waved at him. "Hey! Hey! You're done right?"

Izuku stopped in his tracks. Her smile was as wide as his impending
sense of dread. "They better not be," Izuku said softly. He let go of
his friends sleeve as the resignation washed over him. "Because I
am slowly losing all hope here."

Katsuki placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he knew that it

wouldn't stop the coming lecture as Mei approached.
Episode Four
The studio was very crowded when Izuku arrived with his mother.
There were more than double the usual amount of people on set and
while he knew that the cast was going to end up being large, he was
certain that it wasn't supposed to be this large. Even the usual break
room was overflowing with people when he arrived.

"Izuku! Inko!" Hisashi called out to them, but it was a while before
they could see him through the crowd. Once Hisashi reached them
he hugged his son and placed a quick kiss on his wife's lips.

"Why is it so crowded today, Hisashi?" Inko questioned. She had a

small basket resting on her arm where she'd brought a picnics worth
of food for breakfast. She knew that today was supposed to be a
pretty busy day, but Izuku still thought that she'd overdone it on the
food.

"We need a lot of extras today," Hisashi answered. "The backstage

team can fill some of the roles, but we needed to have a crowd
ready. You'll have to go to Izuku's dressing room if you want any
peace."

"Alright, then." Inko answered. "Nothing wrong with it being a little

livelier." She smiled at him and Izuku could see some of the tension
releasing from Hisashi's shoulders. Inko was one of the most
positive people that Izuku knew. It was very odd watching her on set
being anxious and worried all the time, when Izuku felt like his
mother almost never worried about anything.

Hisashi smiled at her. "It's always nice to have you on set, Inko."
Some days Izuku wished that he could take over as Director just to
let his parents have some time alone. They looked so happy to be in
each other's company that it was a shame that it didn't happen all
that often. Maybe it was enough to have his family able to visit in and
be able to bring them into his world. He seemed genuinely happy
when he was working and it only increased when they were both
around.

"Hey dad, has Katsuki showed up yet?" Izuku asked. He didn't like
his chances of finding his best friend among so many people. Izuku
wasn't even certain he'd be able to make it to his dressing room
without being turned around in the crowd.

"Yeah, he and Takeyama should be in his dressing room." Hisashi

answered.

"Cool." Izuku turned to his mom. "I'm gonna invite them for breakfast,
okay mom?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." Inko answered. She turned her attention to

Hisashi. "Do you have time to eat with us before you start? I brought
quite a bit of food."

"I supposed the special effects team would appreciate having more
time to work." He agreed.

Letting them have time to themselves while he went off to find his
best friend was the least that Izuku could do. Still, it took longer than
Izuku was expecting to get through the crowd. He passed a lot of
people that were getting hair touched up or make up added. One
person was having prosthetic limbs adjusted in a fan around their
body! Izuku wondered how full the actual make up rooms must have
been for something that complicated to be done just off to the side.
He wondered if that guy was another extra or not. His memory of the
full cast was fuzzy. He'd only met most of them once for the opening
and ending credits sequence and that had been a while ago.

He was surprised to find Katsuki standing in the doorway to

Ochako's dressing room, though from his expression Izuku was fairly
certain that he didn't really want to be there. Ochako was smiling at
him brightly, her hands framing her face as she asked, "What do you
think?"
"I think it looks fine," Katsuki said.

"It's not supposed to look fine," Ochako replied with a frown. "It's
supposed to look cute. I have to keep this look for the entire show,
you know."

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Katsuki said, gesturing to the
make up artist. Once Izuku moved closer, he could see that it was
Reiko. Izuku was starting to feel a little bad for the girl, first having to
deal with Toshinori being grumpy and nor Ochako's diva tendencies.

"I'm sorry if it isn't up to your standards," Reiko said quietly.

"You don't need to apologize," Katsuki said. "It looks fine. It looks
nice!"

"You can't say that it looks fine and nice," Ochako complained,
planting her arms on her hips. "It's one or the other. This is my time
to shine! I'm finally gonna be in the whole episode and you're trying
to ruin my chances with lackluster advice."

Katsuki frowned. "You're the one that asked for my help."

"I'm starting to regret it," She said with a sigh and a hair flip.

Katsuki gave her a flat stare. "Fine, I'm leaving."

Ochako's eyes widened with panic. "No wait!"

Katsuki turned to see Izuku standing not far from them and the blond
gave him a tired smile. He approached at a tired pace. "Hey, Izuku."

"Hey, Katsuki. Having trouble?" Izuku asked with a grin. His friend
was sometimes too polite to say no and it often amused Izuku to see
what he could get himself into. Katsuki just sighed deeply.

"Izuku!" Ochako said cheerfully. She stuck her face out of the door
with a bright smile as she asked, "How do I look?"
"Like you're trying too hard," Izuku answered quickly.

Her expression fell immediately. Her frown became a glare and then
a pout as she said, "I meant the make up." She pointed to her
cheeks with both hands, an pose that was actually pretty cute, but
was completely undermined by her expression. "I'm trying to find the
cutest color. I have to wear this for the rest of my life, you know."

"The rest of the show is not the rest of your life," Izuku corrected.

"That depends on how popular the show is," She argued.

"No show last forever."

She made a dissatisfied noise and stomped her foot. "Just help me
out here."

Izuku sighed and shook his head. "You want my honest opinion,
Ochako?"

"Yes, absolutely." She told him, smiling and standing right in front of
him. She looked at him expectantly and Izuku placed his hands on
her shoulders.

"My honest opinion," He said, "Is for you to shut up and let Reiko do
her job. She gets paid to do this, I'm pretty sure she knows what
she's doing."

Ochako's face fell into a frown. "Your opinion sucks," She told him.

Izuku shrugged as he removed his hands from her shoulders. "You

asked." He turned back to face Katsuki. "I came to invite you to
breakfast in my room."

"Thanks."

Ochako stormed back into her room and tossed herself back into the
make up chair that was in front of the mirror. "Get rid of all of this and
do it over," She said.
"I'm sorry that I failed your expectations," Reiko said.

"Whatever. You can do whatever color you want this time, I guess,
but if you fail me-"

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I'm not good enough to live up to your
expectations. I'll try harder. I'll keep trying harder even though I'll
never be worthy of your trust in my skill. I'm sorry that my skills are
so very paltry-"

"Am I going to have to listen to this while you do my make up

again?" Ochako asked with a groan.

"I'm sorry. I'll be silent. I didn't mean to-"

"Ugh!" Ochako's dismayed groan followed them down the hall.

"Man, Reiko is always so stressed out." Izuku said. Though he

couldn't blame her, having to work with the most difficult cast
members so far. Or at least, the two that were in most opposition to
her own personality.

"I'm not sure who I feel worse for," Katsuki said. "Hey, did you notice
all the robots around here? I think they're supposed to be stage
props, but they actually move. It's weird."

"Speaking of robots," Izuku said. "Did I tell you my theory about

Choppy Arms?"

"Aoyama, stop looking directly at the camera," Hisashi called out.

Izuku didn't remember who 'Aoyama' was by name, but there was
only one person that kept looking directly at the camera. Izuku
sighed and took the opportunity to shake out his stiff muscles.

"But the camera keeps looking directly at me," Aoyama replied with a
wink to the cameraman. Or maybe to the camera itself, Izuku wasn't
sure. The guy was either very narsisistic or very flirty. "You can't
expect me to ignore such a thing, can you?"

"Yes, you can. Literally everyone else can do it." Hisashi sighed.
"Let's take five before we try again."

"Why do you keep insisting upon ruining everyone else's hard work?"
Choppy Arms asked, scolding Aoyama and threatening to use his
Kung Fu grip. Izuku was kinda hoping he would. He wanted to see
what would happen. Maybe the guy had a rocket fist, too? He should
ask Mei. If anyone would know, it had to be her, right?

"Who, me? I've never ruined anything a day in my life," He replied,

turning to wink at the camera once more.

"We aren't even filming right now?" Karate Chop said.

"Midoriya," Reiko's soft voice called out. "I need to take you to make
up… for the next scene… I'm sorry to have to bother you about this-"

"No, no, it's fine Reiko." Izuku said, cutting off what he expected
would have been a lengthy tirade of apologies and self deprecation.
He weaved through the crowded studio on his own for a few
minutes, pausing every time any one bumped into Reiko or crossed
her path and she erupted into apologies and excuses, before he just
took her by the shoulders and steered her himself. Walking with her
was ten times slower and more stressful with a crowded studio and
he really didn't want to drag things out.

"You know that you don't have to do that, right?" He asked.

"Do what?" Reiko questioned. He was almost surprised how

malleable she made herself in his hands, but once he considered her
personality, the surprise evaporated. He should be more surprised
that she wasn't apologizing for slowing him down or something.

"Apologize all the time."

She sent him a questioning look over her shoulder, which was fine
since he was controlling where she went anyway. "But I have to
show remorse and repentance for my incompetence." The straight
faced seriousness of that statement was almost too much for Izuku
to take in.

"I think you need to redefine your idea of incompetence." Izuku told
her.

"I'm sor-"

"Please do not apologize to me, Reiko." He tried to contain the

exasperation in his voice, since it would absolutely undermine his
point. "It's fine. Nothing is wrong. No one made any mistakes, I
promise you."

She didn't look like she believed him, but she faced forward and
resisted the urge to pour out anymore apologies. It was probably the
most that he could ask for. He left himself feel the relief of this single
victory.

Katsuki and Mei were both in his dressing room when Izuku entered.
The two were sitting side by side on the couch with a spread of take
out containers on the table before them. Katsuki nodded at him, but
Mei seemed to be too busy stuffing her face to acknowledge him
right away. He released Reiko's shoulders and she went straight to
the dressing table to gather and arrange supplied as Izuku looked at
his friends with confusion. "Party in my own dressing room and no
one invited me?" He asked.

"Lunch break for Mei," Katsuki said, pointing to her with his
chopsticks as he ate from a take out container. "We saved you
some, if you want." He pointed to a bag sitting beside him.

"Thanks, but I'll save it for later." Izuku answered. He went to sit in
the make up chair while he waited for Reiko to get things set up.
"What are you two doing together?"
"I ran into her when she went on a lunch run and she pulled me
along with her," Katsuki said. Yeah, that sounded like Mei.

"Why are you in my dressing room and not yours?" Izuku

questioned.

Katsuki shrugged. "She wanted to talk to you, I guess."

Mei finally stopped trying to inhale her food and it was only after she
placed the container on the table that he realized she stopped
because it was empty. She took a breath and leaned back against
the couch. "That's the first thing I've eaten all day," She said in a lazy
content voice.

Katsuki gaped. "Are you kidding? How long have you been here?"
He demanded.

Mei shrugged. "Not sure. Monoma didn't get here 'til six and I'd
already been here a while by that point."

"How did you even get in that early?" Izuku asked.

"The department head gave me a key so I could get more work

done," Mei answered with another shrug. "Monoma made a lot of the
parts, well Kendo helped too, but I had to do the complicated stuff for
the ones that are supposed to move."

Katsuki and Izuku shared a disbelieving look before Katsuki said,

"Wow. You're actually kind of amazing Mei."

"What do you mean actually?" She frowned at them. "Are you

implying that I wasn't amazing before?"

"I need you to take your shirt off," Reiko said quietly.

Izuku complied without protest and she leaned over his arm. "So,
hey, do you know about Kung Fu grip?" Mei gave him a confused
look, so he explained further. "The guy that moved like a robot and
chops his arms all over the place."
"Oh! Him. What about him?" Mei asked.

"Did you make him?"

"No…" Mei answered slowly, tilting her head in confusion. Then her
eyes lit up and she slid forward, perching on the edge on the couch.
"Wait, you don't mean…"

"I saw him get really upset at the idea of having to smash those
robots earlier," Katsuki said thoughtfully. "Your theory has some
weight, Izuku."

Mei's eyes lit up. "This needs investigation! I have to ask Monoma if
he knows anything."

"Speaking of, how do you hang out with him and not find him ob-"
Katsuki stopped himself mid word and Izuku smiled at the idea that
his best friend was trying to find a replacement for the word
obnoxious. Katsuki chose a different statement as he asked, "Isn't he
a little much?"

"He's not so bad after a while," Mei said, waving off the comment.
"We work well together. He's really talented and he works on more
than just special effects like I do, so it's easy to coordinate with him.
He's like a self appointed captain. He gets the job done."

"I'm not surprised that the two of you get along," Izuku said. "Your
egos probably bounce off of each other like an off tune echo
chamber."

"You keep saying these unflattering things about me, I can't help but
notice," Mei said calmly.

"I'm surprised you noticed," Izuku replied.

"I think that you're feeling neglected because I've been busy all day,"
Mei told him.

"You'd be wrong about that," Izuku said.

"As long as I've got you here," Mei started with a bright smile, but
Katsuki placed a hand over her mouth.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a break?" He asked. "How can you

want to talk about work when this is the first time you've eaten all
day?"

She pulled Katsuki's hands off with a pout. "Work will always be
better than food," She said firmly.

"You're insane," Katsuki told her in a deadpan tone.

"It's not insane to sacrifice food, sleep, and freedom to better one's
craft," She told them both firmly.

Katsuki and Izuku looked at each other before Izuku said, "Mei, yes
it is."

She huffed. "Rest is for the weak."

"That's also what you say about safety precautions, showers, and
government supervision." Reiko added quietly. Honestly, Izuku had
almost forgotten that she was even there.

Mei shrugged. "They only hold you back."

"Mei," Izuku said. He waited until she looked at him before he spoke.
"Never speak to me if you've gone more than twelve hours without a
shower."

Mei groaned. "You're being as picky as Monoma now."

"Oh my god, are you less crazy than he is?" Katsuki asked. He
looked at her with a horrified expression and Izuku couldn't help but
express a similar look. "Maybe the robot is the most sane person in
the cast."

"I refuse to accept that," Izuku said. "Do you know how miserable I
would be if that were true?"
Mei cracked her neck before pushing herself off of the couch. "Well,
I'm gonna go guys. I need to make sure nothing has malfunctioned."

"Do you ever stop?" Katsuki questioned.

"Not if I can help it," She told them. "See you guys!" She waved as
she left the room.

"Reiko," Izuku said slowly. "I'm so glad that you're my make up

artist."

The girl paused, looking at him with wide and surprised eyes.
"Thank… you." There was a pause before she added. "I really don't
deserve such extravagant praise, even though I am happy to recieve
and do everything that I can to be worthy or compliments, I realize
that I cannot ever-"

"You're ruining the moment, Reiko." Izuku said with a sigh.

"Alright. It's getting pretty late folks. Let's wrap it up." Hisashi called
out. Inko approached him from the sidelines immediately, smiling
and chatting with her husband now that he had a free moment.

Izuku sighed, pulling off his green screen gloves and rubbing his
cheek. "You hit pretty hard, Ochako."

Ochako winced as she pulled herself off of the prop that she was laid
across. "Sorry, I didn't mean to put so much force into it. I was a little
nervous. Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'll be fine," He told her.

She smiled at him apologetically. She looked as cute as her

character was supposed to and he was kind of impressed. It made it
easier to fake having a crush on her. "Um, do you need…" She
made a gesture toward his face.
"You'll never get anywhere if something like that can bring you
down!" Yelled a voice from the sidelines.

"Leave him alone, Monoma." Someone's exasperated reply quickly

followed.

Izuku shook his head and turned toward his father. "Are we done
here, dad?"

"Yeah, you kids can go." Hisashi answered. "I'll look over all the
footage and call you in if there need to be reshoots later."

"Cool." Izuku answered. He stretched out his arms and legs while
Ochako hovered around nervously. He looked at her with an
expectant look. "Yes?"

"Um, I'm sorry for, uh, being kinda…" She played with her fingers as
she searched for an appropriate word.

"Dramatic?" He offered. Which was much kinder than some of the

other words that came to mind, but she really wasn't that bad. Not in
small doses. He planned to keep their interactions to as small a dose
as he could, even once she was on set more. He didn't need more
headaches. Listening to All Might and Present Mic talking to each
other in character was bad enough, and All Might seemed to always
want to be in character.

She flushed and pressed her lips together tightly, not pleased with
his assessment but also not arguing. "Y-yeah, that."

"Don't worry about it," Izuku said. "Just tone it down, maybe."

"Y-yeah." She was still waiting around. Her eyes were on the ground
and she was playing with her fingers nervously. Izuku couldn't be
sure what she wanted, but he decided it would be less of a hassle
not to wait around for it either way.
"Right. So, I gotta go," He said as he sprung up. "See ya!" He jogged
off set, pretending not hear her when she called after him. He went
toward the break room first, hoping to find something sweet to snack
on. It was pretty late and a lot of the extras had cleared out, so he
thought it should be safe.

He was wrong about that.

He found most of the "pro heroes" hanging out there. He heard

Present Mic and All Might before he'd even rounded the corner, but
their voices could be so loud that it was often hard to tell where it
was coming from. They were almost speaking at a normal volume
this time, which Izuku didn't think was possible, but it gave him hope
for the future. The most alarming thing in the room was seeing
Takeyama cornering Ectoplasm, dressed in her costume despite not
even being needed on set today. Izuku wished that he could say that
he couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he could. He absolutely
could. It was the Kamui Woods situation all over again.

"So what do you look like underneath all that make up?" She purred.

Izuku pumped the breaks, sharp turned, and hit the acceleration in
one smooth motion as he walked very quickly in the opposite
directly. He remembered that he still had that take out that Mei and
Katsuki had gotten him, and that would have to be enough. He was
not watching his- Katsuki's, he metally corrected himself- cousin
flirting.

"Why do you always ruin everything?" Izuku mumbled to himself. He

was pretty sure he'd seen a box of donuts on the table too.
Takeyama was the worst. The absolutely worst.

It was a few minutes later that his mom popped her head into his
dressing room to see him sullenly poking at his takeout container.
"Izuku, are you ready to go?" She paused as she took in the scene
before her and asked, "Izu… are you pouting?"

"I'm not!"
Episode Five
Izuku was excited. Today was the first day they would start filming
with the full cast present and that meant no more early mornings!
Izuku wasn't much of a morning person and he was happy that he'd
have more of a chance to sleep in. He still arrived at the studio fairly
early, but now he had the chance to go back to sleep in his dressing
room.

The rest of the staff would be busy. There were a lot of people that
would need to be taken to makeup, some voice over that needed to
be recorded, and probably other stuff that Izuku wasn't really
interested in. Reiko would be having a busy morning, that was for
sure.

There was coffee waiting for him when he woke up. He probably had
Takeyama to thank for it. She always made coffee runs, since she
was pretty much useless in the mornings without it. He silently
thanked her, but he was pretty sure that he would forget by the time
he actually saw her. He put on his costume, but he didn't bother to
worry about his hair. Someone would want to drag him back into
makeup later anyway.

He avoided the break room for a while, wandering around the studio
to watch as everyone scurried about and made preparations. Things
would be more organized after this, he was sure, once everyone got
used to the new filming schedule, but for now it left him bored and
wandering. That was how he ended up talking with some of the staff
members, one of which was Itsuka Kendo.

Kendo was more in charge of tech effects, as opposed to the

practical effects that Mei seemed to do. She ended up showing
some of her work to Izuku as she explained what she did.

"Wait, you mean the principal is entirely CGI?" Izuku asked.

Itsuka laughed. "Here, let me show you." She gestured to the laptop
in front of her. "I'm not entirely sure what he's supposed to be, I didn't
come up with the design, but he's not human and it was decided that
makeup wouldn't really do it justice." She displayed the image of the
principal and showed a few minutes of where he'd been inserted into
the show.

"What about the scenes where he's supposed to be with us?" he

asked.

"They'll probably have markers for where you should look and he
probably won't have too much of a screen presence," Itsuka
explained. "The principal's not even the only one! Someone in your
class is supposed to be green screened to be invisible."

"Really?" Izuku should probably start reading ahead in the script a

little more.

The door to the room suddenly burst open, startling them both. "Oh?
You didn't know such a simple thing as that? How self centered can
you be?" Monoma yelled out.

Itsuka glared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop
barging into rooms?"

"Don't explain things to this simpleton?" Monoma went on. "He's

clearly too self absorbed to pay attention to his other cast members!"

"Stop yelling, you idiot."

"You would think the star of the show would show more
consideration-" Itsuka lunged out of her seat and grabbed Monoma,
cutting him off.

"Stop doing this every time!" she demanded, shaking him in

frustration. "I swear to god, I'll put you and Hatsume on a leash!"
As amusing as it was to watch, Izuku decided that he should attempt
to grab something from the break room before filming started. "I'll
see you around, Itsuka."

She briefly waved at him before continuing to scold Monoma. Izuku

snickered as he left the room and closed the door behind him. Might
as well leave them their privacy.

Ochako had a mission when she arrived at the studio. She dumped
her things in her dressing room before marching to the main makeup
room and bursting inside. "Reiko, I need you!"

Several people looked up, both those in chairs and those working on
others. Ochako ignored all of them as looked around for Reiko. She
spotted the silver haired girl styling some blonde's hair and
immediately approached. She grabbed Reiko's hand and turned her
around.

"Reiko! What are you doing? I need you! This is an emergency?" she
insisted.

Reiko looked taken aback and resisted her pull. "Huh? But I'm
already…"

"Someone else can do it," Ochako told her. "This is really important
and you're the only one that I trust to do such an important thing."

"Seriously?" One of the other makeup artist said. "Can't you wait?"

"I can't!" Ochako answered without looking away from Reiko. Her
gaze was imploring and after a moment Reiko sighed.

"Can someone take over for me?" Reiko asked softed. "I'm sorry to
be a burden, but-"

"Don't worry Reiko!" A blonde wearing fake horns waved her off. She
was working on turning some girl entirely pink. "I'll cover for you."
"You don't have time to take anyone else's work, Tsunotori," one of
the other's said.

"I can do it!" The blonde turned to the girl in her chair. "Tell them I
can do it!"

"She can totally do it!" the pink girl cheered. "Give her a chance."

"Don't just…"

"Great!" Ochako smiled. She took hold of Reiko's shoulders and lead
her out of the room. "I knew that I could count on you."

"Huh? You… you did?" Reiko questioned.

"Of course. You're the best makeup artist that I know." Ochako didn't
bother pointing out that Reiko was the only makeup artist on set that
she had worked with. That would be completely beside the point.

When they got inside her dressing room, Reiko went straight to the
makeup table. "If you give me a moment I can start-"

"No, no, not that stuff yet." Ochako dumped the contents of her bag
on the table, letting the makeup she'd brought from home spill out.
Various lipsticks, eye shadows, foundation, blush, everything she
had was spread out before her. She turned a determined look to
Reiko. "I need you to make me look irresistible."

"But… the shoot," Reiko objected softly.

"We can worry about that later," Ochako said. "We've got tons of
time, but I need to be as attractive as possible to catch Izuku's
attention."

Reiko's eyes widened. "What?"

Ochako looked Reiko in her eyes as she stated, "Izuku and I shared
a moment."
"A… moment?"

She nodded. "After we were finished the last episode. We stared

deep into each other's eyes and I know that something sparked
between us, but someone interrupted. He told me that you do the
best work, too."

"He… he did?" Reiko questioned softly.

"Yes." Ochako clasped her hands together and closed her eyes as
she remembered. They had shared so many moments together last
time that just thinking about it made her heartbeat. "So I just know
that if you make me look good, he'll fall all over himself for me."

"I… I don't think…"

Ochako looked at her with a smile. "So you'll do it, right?" She
moved closer to Reiko and took her hands. "Please?"

"I… suppose," Reiko agreed.

"Yes!" Ochako clapped her hands together. "Thank you so much! I

knew that I could count on you!"

When Izuku went to the break room, he was surprised to find that the
tables were piled with boxes of doughnuts. There were quite a few
people already lingering around the room. Someone was sleeping
under one of the tables and Takeyama waved at him as she shoved
a sweet into her mouth. She muffled a good morning to him, he
thought she did at least, and he waved back.

"Oh good morning." A boy with red and white hair greeted him. "I'm
Shouto Todoroki. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, too," Izuku answered. "I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Would you like a doughnut?" he asked. "I bought them for everyone
to celebrate. Let's all work hard today."

"You bought all these?" Izuku asked. He reached out to take a few,
since there were so many, and sat down at a nearby table.

Todoroki moved to sit across from him. "Yeah. My father is also part
of the cast. He's playing one of the pro heroes."

"Cool," Izuku said between bites of food. "My dad's the director."

Todoroki was really friendly and talkative. Izuku was pretty sure he
was the most normal and sane cast member that he'd met so far,
which was a relief. He shouldn't be so surprised that so many
eclectic people ended up as actors, but was it too much to ask that a
few more be normal?

"Good morning, Izuku," Ochako called out as she entered the room.

Apparently it was.

Izuku gave her a halfhearted wave. "Hey."

He didn't expect her to sit right next to him, or even at his table really,
but she did just that, smiling at him brightly. It was a little off putting
and Izuku moved away from her subtly. "What are you doing?" she
asked him.

"I would have thought that'd be obvious," he replied, taking another

bite of his doughnut.

"Good morning," Todoroki greeted her with a smile. "I'm Shouto

Todoroki."

"Oh, hi." Ochako barely glanced at him. Izuku shoved the rest of his
doughnut in his mouth, contemplating making an excuse to bow out
of the conversation.
"You there!" Choppy Arms entered the room with a loud exclamation,
stiffly marching towards one of the other tables. "Think of your other
coworkers and leave some for them." He was threatening Takeyama
with his Kung Fu grip, chopping the air over and over in front of her.

Takeyama was entirely unimpressed. She looked him in his eye as

she slowly lifted another doughnut, taking one from the box despite
having one already on her plate, and taking a large bite.

Karate Chop looked so taken aback that Izuku nearly burst out
laughing.

"Something funny, Midoriya?" Todoroki questioned. He tried to follow

Izuku's gaze, but he didn't know what was so funny about watching
his cousin- Katsuki's cousin!- refuse manners from a robot.

Izuku tried to contain his laughter so that he could explain. "So, that
guy," he gestured to Choppy. "That guy is a robot."

"Huh?"

"What?" Ochako's voice was louder than Todoroki's, but seeing the
surprise on her face was very satisfying. "No way!"

"Do you have proof otherwise?" Izuku asked.

"Who is that?" Todoroki asked.

Izuku shrugged. "I don't know. I've been calling him Choppy Arms.
Or Karate Chop. Or… well, it doesn't matter. Look at how he moves,
though! Tell me you don't think he's a robot."

"This is entirely inappropriate behavior," Choppy Arms was still

attempting to scold Takeyama. She'd moved into a reclining position
with her legs thrown over the table's edge and was giving him a lazy
smile.

"He does sound pretty robotic," Ochako admitted.

"I'm almost positive that they gave his part to a robot to help it evolve
far enough to learn sentience or something," Izuku told them.

"That can't be right," Todoroki said. The three of them were all
watching the spectacle that Kung Fu Grip was making. "Where
would the studio get a robot?"

"Someone had to build it," Ochako said. "Maybe one of the special
effects crew?"

"Mei didn't do it, but I haven't asked anyone else," Izuku told them.

"Hmm. Can we test it?" she wondered out loud.

"Hold on," Todoki said. He stood up, picking up an empty plate and
putting a doughnut on it before moving toward Choppy. "Hello, I'm
Shouto Todoroki. I'm the one that bought all of these doughnuts
today and I wanted to offer you one in greeting."

"Ah. I am Tenya Iida. It is good to meet such a considerate coworker.

I am very grateful for your offering." Karate Chop bowed at the
waste, very formal, very stiff. He accepted the plate. Both Izuku and
Ochako leaned forward in interest. Todoroki's expectant smile went a
long way toward encouraging the Action Figure to pick up the treat.

"Think he'll really do it?" Ochako asked.

"He has to if he wants to prove he's human," Izuku replied.

"What's this?" A loud voice from the doorway stole everyone's

attention. Present Mic and All Might entered the room. "Whoa! Who
brought all these doughnut?"

"This looks like a job for All Might!" The man announced as he strode
toward one of the tables.

"Shut up," Toshinori scolded. He was walking in All Might's shadow,

a space that he seemed to occupy often and Izuku wondered if it
was done on purpose or not. "You're too loud. It's giving me a
headache."

"You two!" Action Figure put down his plate and marched toward the
new arrivals. "You are causing too much of a disruption." It would be
unfair to say that his shouting was a loud as theirs, nothing was as
loud as Present Mic or All Might, but the fact remained that he was
yelling. Someone should adjust his voice modulator. "You should be
ashamed of yourselves. As responsible adults I demand that you
show more consideration for to the rest of us."

Todoroki wandered back over to them as the loudest people in the

room continued their back and forth. "He didn't eat it," Todoroki
reported. Not that such a report was needed. Both Izuku and Ochako
had already sagged in defeat.

"Damn, I wanted to know what would happen," Ochako sighed.

"Do you think he would have malfunctioned?" Izuku asked. "Or

would he have just mashed it into his face because he doesn't
understand eating protocols?"

"Hmm. You really think he's robotic?" Todoki wondered.

"I become more convinced all the time," Izuku admitted.

"Why all this noise?" The person that had been sleeping under the
table sat up, staring at everyone with beary eyed displeasure. He
was wrapped up in a sleeping bag, looking cozy and ridiculous in
equal measures.

"It's Shota!" Present Mic announced, pointing at the man with both
hands.

"Of course it's you," The human caterpillar groaned. "Who else
would be this loud."

"I am here!" All Might added, as if in answer.

"Don't remind me." He looked up to see Toshinori and nodded at
him. "Toshinori."

"Aizawa," Toshinori nodded back. "You still sleeping around all over
the place."

Izuku saw Takeyama's head turn in their direction, suddenly

interested in their conversation. He tried very hard to ignore the
implication and pretend that she was reacting to something other
than the obvious.

"Don't make it sound like that," Aizawa replied.

"How else should it sound?"

"Alright," Izuku said as he pushed himself out of his seat. "I'm gonna
get out of here before I get a headache."

"It was nice to talk with you," Todoroki said. "I look forward to working
with you,"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, you too. I'm glad to have you around."

He was on his way out when he heard Ochako exclaim, "Oh no! My
plan totally failed!"

Izuku didn't bother to wonder what plan she was talking about. He
would probably be due on set soon and he should find Katsuki to tell
him what he'd missed. He needed to know how close they'd come to
learning the truth.

"Good work, young Midoriya!" All Might praised Izuku loudly when
they finished filming their scene, patting him on the back hard
enough to make him stumble.

"Watch your strength," Izuku complained. "You almost knocked me

over."
All Might turned instantly repentant. "I'm sorry, are you okay? I don't
know my own strength sometimes, I didn't mean to-"

"You're acting like Reiko," Izuku said.

"Young Reiko is fine lass!"

"That's… not really the point here." Izuku sighed. He walked off set,
taking a water bottle offered by his dad.

Mei popped up next to him and asked excited, "Do you wanna see
some blood?"

Izuku choked on his water. Hisashi pat his back as he coughed.

"I'm sure she means fake blood," Hisashi said in an attempt to

soothe him. "Though I do not know why she would make such an
offer anyway."

"It's a prop for All Might and Toshinori," Mei explained. "It was just
used in the scene you just filmed."

"Mei, please do not corrupt my son with your rampant energy,"

Hisashi said.

"What does that mean?" she responded with a pout.

"Why would I want to look at fake blood?" Izuku asked once he'd
stopped coughing.

"Because it's cool!"

"It's not." Izuku looked over his shoulder and called out, "Hey All
Might! Hatsume wants to show you something."

All Might rushed to their side quickly, ending on a pose as dramatic

as something his character would perform. Izuku suddenly wondered
if All Might was written to be as dramatic as he was or if the
character was made by the performance. "What is it, young
Hatsume?"

"Wanna see some blood?"

Watching someone that big falter was pretty amusing. "B-blood?"

"Yeah!" She grabbed his arm. "You're done filming for now, right?
Come on, I'll tell you how we get the texture right."

"I-I don't think this is the best idea…" All Might argued softly.

Mei had already launched into an explanation and wasn't hearing

anything that All Might had to say.

"That was pretty devious of you," Katsuki said.

"It's fine. She's not gonna break him," he replied.

"You sure?" Katsuki questioned. "He doesn't look like he'll be okay."

"He will be."

Filming with a full cast was more difficult than Izuku had expected.
There were a lot of re-shoots, since any one of them could do
something wrong that caused the whole seen to be useless.

"Aizawa, stop going to sleep on set," Hisashi scolded.

They all looked to their "teacher" but he showed no signs of moving.

"Get your feet off of the desk!" Karate Chop scolded Katsuki.

Katsuki looked at him with confusion. "Huh?"

"There's no reason to stay in that position when we're not currently

filming."
"Seriously?" The exasperation in Katsuki's voice was clear, but he
still obeyed the ridiculous request and put his feet back on the floor.

Ochako raised her hand as she looked at the director, likely to

assure that she got his attention. "Um, I don't think he's waking up."

"I'll do it! I'll do it!" A girl that Izuku had mentally dubbed Green
Screen jumped up and down, waving her hand. She was wearing a
green screen suit beneath a school because her character was
supposed to be invisible. She had very expressive body language
and that would probably help her character, though Izuku had a hard
time picturing what it would look like in the finished project.
"Someone toss me a bottle of water!"

"I've got one!" Another energetic girl, this one dipped in pink,
approached Green Screen happily, offering the water bottle in
triumph.

Their joy was doused quickly by Hisashi saying, "Do not pour water
on him."

"Aww," both girls were audibly and visibly disappointed.

Karate Chop used his Kung Fu to wake their sleeping coworker.

"This kind of behavior is very unprofessional of you! To fall asleep on
the job is utterly unfathomable!"

It was probably the repeated chopping and not the long winded
lecture that woke Aizawa, but the man didn't make any
acknowledging gestures. Instead, once his eyes opened, he quietly
lifted a juice box from his sleeping bag and sipped on it.

"Don't ignore me!" Choppy objected, doubling down on his Kung Fu

action as his scolding increased. Izuku couldn't actually tell if there
was any impact, since the blows rained down so quickly and Aizawa
didn't react to them in the slightest.
"Is it really okay for you to be hitting him like that?" A spiky red head
asked. Izuku was disappointed in the lack of apparent nicknaming
fodder, but he did vaguely remember this guy. Izuku was fairly
certain they talked when they filmed the opening credits, but that
was so long ago, it almost didn't factor. Was it worth it to remember
someone he couldn't give a nickname to?

Watching Karate Chop back pedal so readily was pretty humorous

though. He spit apologies rapidly and loudly, doing more of those stiff
bows that made Izuku wonder if his joints were calibrated correctly.

"Alright, back to your places everyone," Hisashi told them. "Aizawa,

please do not fall asleep and miss your cue this time."

Aizawa just grunted in acknowledgement.

That was only the first of many interventions from the director. Izuku
went from being annoyed by all the interruptions to amused by his
crew mates antics.

"Aoyama, stop looking directly at the camera."

"This stunt is rather dangerous, don't you think? Maybe I should

have my stunt double doing this," he winked at the camera. Or the
cameraman. Izuku still couldn't tell. Was it even the same
cameraman? Was there an illicit affair secretly going on right before
his eyes?

"All you have to do is jump backwards." Hisashi sounded exhausted

and Izuku didn't envy him.

"I don't want to hurt my tooshie." Izuku was pretty sure they all felt
the same amount of disgust with him as a person in that moment.

"Oh? Something like that is too much for you? How pathetic can you
be?" Monoma appeared out of nowhere to mock them, laughing
madly. He was wearing contacts and a wig to look like his fellow
narcissist, and he quickly took the belt from around his waist.

"Monoma, just… do the stunt," Hisashi said in exasperation.

"He's a stunt double?" Katsuki questioned quietly. Apparently not

quietly enough, since Monoma responded.

"I do all the heavy lifting around here!"

If Izuku was honest though, filming with Monoma was not worse than
having to deal with a dandy.

"Tooru, did you just throw your shoes across the finish line?"
Hisashi's voice bordered on incredulous.

"No, I ran!"

"Tooru… you're not actually invisible… I can see you."

"You can't prove that to me."

Hisashi rubbed at his temples and Izuku felt for his dad.

"Mic, don't ad lib your narration."

"I was trying to add some spice to the scene!"

"You already recorded your lines for this scene!"

"Ack!"

…
Then there were the times when everyone else started to complain
about each other's performance, too. It started with Aizawa ad
libbing a few lines and Choppy taking offense to it. Then someone
made a comment about "the main character" being lame and Katsuki
took offense to that. Then before Izuku knew what was happening,
Ochako was chasing the others around and yelling about them
"picking on" him, and Katsuki had wrapped him in a hug, telling him
over and over that he could be a hero.

Izuku just sighed and let it happen. He wondered if the rest of the
cast would be surprised when they found out how different he was
from his character. He wondered if they were surprised to see how
different Katsuki was from his character.

"Take it easy, Kacchan," Izuku said, just to poke at his best friend a
little.

Katsuki looked at him like he'd been betrayed.

Once they'd finished filming, Izuku waited for Katsuki. One of the
guys that Ochako had chased around for joking about his character
had slung an arm over Katsuki's shoulder. The guy was blond and
wearing a repentant look that lead Izuku to think that he was
apologizing. Either way, Katsuki didn't look much more than
confused as he approached.

"Hey, Katsuki. Did you aquire a new growth?" Izuku asked with a
smile.

"Yeah, this guy wanted to apologize for earlier," Katsuki explained.

"Hey. I'm Denki Kaminari," The guy raised two fingers to his head in
a salute and winked.

"And I'm Mina Ashido!" The pink girl announced, suddenly pouncing
on Katsuki from the other side.
"Wha?" Katsuki muttered in confusion before cutting himself off in
surprise as Green Screen jumped up in front of them.

"And I'm Tooru Hagakure!"

"Mina, why do you always try to move in on my territory," Kaminari

asked. He was giving her a teasing smile.

Mina returned the smile with a wink. "I'm just here to give you a hard
time."

"You two are friends, huh?" Izuku asked, pointing between them. He
would admit that if Katsuki was going to start hanging out with other
cast members, having some of the most interesting ones would be
the best choice. Izuku could already see amusing possibilities.

"Yep! We've been friends for years," Mina answered.

"Unfortunately," Kaminari added.

Green Screen jumped on Mina and gave her a hug. "And I'm friends
with her!"

"We auditioned together," Mina explained.

"Why are you all crowding me?" Katsuki asked. His confusion was
kinda priceless.

Green screen moved closer to poke him in cheek. "Because you're

cool!" she said.

"How so?" Katsuki asked with a frown. "My character is a bully."

"An egostical asshole in fact," Kaminari added..

Green Screen posed dramatically with a hand over her heart.

"Because you're sensative."

"What?" Katsuki looked entirely confused.

"Probably because you insist on hugging me whenever your
character hurts your feelings," Izuku said teasingly. "He and I
auditioned together, too. I was trying out for the asshole and he
wanted to be the main character, but they thought that he looked
more intimidating."

"Is that so? Hmm…" Mina placed her hand on her chin and studied
them both closely.

Kaminari placed a hand on her forehead and pushed her face away.
"Don't crowd him like that."

"You're one to talk," Green Screen said in a sing song tone.

Mina just giggled.

Izuku decided it would be cruel not to rescue his best friend at this
point. He reached out for Katsuki's hand and pulled him from
Kaminari's arms. Izuku made a show of dusting him off and petting
Katsuki's head just so that Katsuki would get mad and tell him to
knock it off. Katsuki could be a pushover sometimes, but he was
comfortable enough with Izuku to express himself and Izuku wanted
to make him look good in front of his potential new friends. That
meant making him look like someone that couldn't be easily taken
advantage of.

"Come on, Izuku, help me find my cousin so I can get out of here,"
Katsuki said.

"You have family on set?" Mina asked.

The five of them continued talking as they wandered around the

studio. They ended up finding Takeyama in the break room chatting
with Toshinori, which resulted in their group sitting down to listen to
their friendly banter. At some point Todoroki showed up and started
talking to everyone, then Choppy arrived and that sparked a
conversation about his robotic origins. It was a lively way to end the
day, but Izuku was sure he would be exhausted if this was how every
shoot ended.