"Finally," Sam sighed as they walked onto the school grounds. "I've been waiting for this for ages."
"It's been a week," Danny frowned. "Surely, you know you're exaggerating." Tucker had been getting annoyed by Sam's complaints about her costume and had talked to 'Hatsume' the day before. She was more than happy to help, having been granted access to one of Power Loader's workshop earlier that week. Tucker had been excited to announce they could drop by before school the day after. "I just hope she can fix the shit."
Sam smacked his arm before striding into the building, followed closely by Tucker. Danny looked at the pager as he walked behind the two, checking the messages. Dani had been in charge of Clockwork's, apparently, because the screen was filled up with all kinds of jokes and joking sneers at their age. Pursing his lips, he contemplated making some comments back, but the shrieks coming from somewhere ahead made him decide against it.
He pocketed the pager and stole a quick glance at his phone before making his way over to the workshop. The black smoke was more annoying than anything else, and he was quick to find the source. Tucker was sitting against the wall, laughing and coughing at the same time, while Sam was tapping her foot, waiting for him to finish.
A girl with pink hair was handling a fire-extinguisher like she was a professional, and laughing in victory. Danny figured that this had to be Hatsume. "What a banger!" she exclaimed as she put the fire-extinguisher down and pulled her goggles up to sit atop her head. She grinned at the black spot on the workbench and turned. "...Sorry about that!" Seemingly surprised to see them, she cleared her throat and stepped to the side, where she pulled their three suitcases from.
How she'd gotten hold of them was beyond Danny, but he didn't think he wanted to know.
"I've taken a look at the things, but nothing looks good on the hanger, does it?" Hatsume turned back. "Sorry you nearly got blown up," she offered to Tucker, who had managed to catch his breath.
"It's fine," he laughed. "Been through worse." Sam elbowed him in his side and smiled at Hatsume and the cases. Tucker crumbled a bit but managed to remain upright. He shot a quick glare at Sam but turned back to Hatsume within half a second before nodding at the cases. "Ideas yet?"
Hatsume grinned. "You won't believe what I have in mind."
Five minutes and a quick wardrobe-change later, the Trio stood in front of Hatsume, fully decked out with all the gear in the cases. Hatsume walked past them and hummed in dissatisfaction at seeing something she didn't like, and sometimes even shook her head. "Good base," she said, "but bad execution." She grabbed Danny's hand and looked him in the eye as she shook his hand back and forth. "Spandex?"
"It's very aerodynamic!"
"Last time I checked, you weren't a speeder but a barbarian, or a rogue or something." She grinned at Tucker, who had snorted for some reason, and dropped his hand back before shrugging. "You want a spandex base? Fine with me. Just let me do my thing otherwise."
"Are you sure you're allowed to do this?" Sam asked skeptically as she crossed her arms. "Not that I don't want you to work your magic on our suits, but I don't want Nezu breathing down our necks because we did something we weren't supposed to."
"Who cares!" Hatsume yelled as she grabbed a piece of paper with gibberish and started tapping at a section. "See? Ideas galore! Trust me and you'll be fine!" She dropped the paper on a workbench and put her hands on her hips. "And if you're worried about Nezu, don't be. Power Loader will vouch for me. By the way! You are also the first and only ones getting upgrades from me before the tournament! My babies will be at your disposal only!" She waved at Danny. "Gloves. Here."
Danny did as he was told under a scrutinizing gaze coming from Sam. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Tell me about the circuits," Tucker practically beamed as he bounced over to her. "I thought about how to regulate the electricity without overloading the wires, but I couldn't figure out how to use the panels without implementing a kill-switch as well."
"Gibberish alert!"
"Oh hush you barbarian," Tucker replied easily. He smiled as Hatsume laughed at his apparent joke before turning back to the workbench. As Hatsume started explaining her plan in barely-English to Tucker, Sam and Danny shared a glance before moving themselves to the hallway.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what about?" Sam shot back, crossing her arms and leaning against the window to look at the training fields. Midoriya was working hard with that new thing he had finally managed, and according to Danny, it would only be good for everyone. Bakugou was standing against the wall, yelling things. Maybe encouragement. Probably threats. She turned her eyes back to Danny, who was looking at her with those puppy-eyes and worried look. "I'm fine, sheesh," she said as she rolled her eyes and looked back outside.
"You seem mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you!" she burst and was quick to blush and cross her arms again, avoiding his stare. Huffing, she turned her head back again. "You seemed very comfortable with her handling you like that."
Danny blinked before breaking into a small smile. "You're jealous."
"Maybe."
"So you're mad at Hatsume."
"Maybe."
"Sam," Danny said, "she's just doing her job. And she's bad with social cues like Tucker said. I gotta say I'm not enjoying it either." At seeing Sam sigh, he continued, "Sam, would I ever betray you? Or Tucker?"
Sam sighed before looking away. "No..."
"Then what are you worried about?" he asked as he stepped closer, softly placing his hand on her shoulder. Danny smiled as she turned to look him in the eye. "I won't leave you and Tucker. You're my best friends, Sam. Do you really think Hatsume will change that?"
"It's not the best friend part I'm worried about."
"I'm too much of a coward to cheat on you."
"True."
"And even if I had the guts to go against you," he continued, "I wouldn't."
"Hey Lovebirds!" Tucker shouted as he slammed the door open, and the two didn't even bother to take a step away from each other, and instead nearly jumped into a combined battle stance. "Number one, Hatsume and I are done geeking over electricity, so it's safe to come back in, and number two, don't think I didn't see that!" He was quick to flee from their fields of vision and darted back into the workshop, where Hatsume was yelling at them to either get a room already or stop and get back in there to see what she had thought of.
"Let's go," Danny more asked than said, and waited for Sam to smile at him before stepping back into the workshop, and he was right behind her the moment Hatsume jumped up with an excited smile on her face.
"You won't believe what I have in mind for you!"
"Eh, me neither?" Sam intelligently replied as she was dragged across the room to a workbench out of earshot from the boys.
Tucker moved to stand beside Danny, and they both looked as Hatsume started laying out her plans to Sam. He contemplated his words for a few seconds before settling on, "Sam being paranoid over you two again?"
Danny sighed. "I don't know how to make it clear to her I won't abandon her, no matter what. Telling her directly helps, but after a while, she's back to doubting it again. I don't know what to do about it..."
"Dude," Tucker deadpanned, "you're so smitten even Bakugou can tell." He put his hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled at the two girls fawning over Sam's new outfit. "You're gonna be just fine."