Kaminari had tried not to think about you know... Having brain surgery. Which worked great, denial was awesome. Until Maeve was walking him through the doors of a medical clinic and reality crashed down like a less pleasant confetti shower.
"Um, what did you say the chances of becoming a vegetable were again?" He asked while fidgeting with his charger.
"I don't think you should be worrying about that. It's a low-risk operation and because I have the blueprint of your brain currently it can be reversed. Instead, focus on the positives! There's always chocolate mousse after surgeries. I'll make sure it still raises your dopamine levels no matter what happens," Maeve joked. His eye twitched.
"Very comforting. Thanks."
The surgeon tuned into how worried he actually was and became more empathetic.
"Kaminari, are you more concerned about the damage that could be caused or that you might not be yourself after?"
He shrugged hopelessly.
"I don't know. I just... I feel like being dumb is part of what makes me me. If you take that away you're taking away part of who I am. The smart version seems like just another polished snob who would judge regular old Denki."
Maeve's smile grew as she said,
"The fact you're saying that alone is a good sign. I can't say for certain how this will affect you and your personality. But based on research, the most likely scenario is that you remain your slightly pervy, hamburger loving and good-humoured self. With the added bonus of doing more in class than doodling lightning swords."
"Those were support item designs!" Kaminari protested.
"Uh-huh. Anyway, we can talk through things as much as you want before the procedure so you're more comfortable. But I actually find the more I overthink something the greater my anxiety. Funny, that."
Kaminari couldn't tell whether she was being sarcastic, funny, or ironic. He wasn't sure if Maeve knew either.
"Can I help y'all?" An old lady at the desk asked. She had an overweight cat sitting on the desk beside her, which didn't fill Denki with confidence about the place. It was in a small town close to the Iida estate that consisted of a grubby general store, ramshackle pub, shelter for the protection of an endangered subspecies of peacock he'd never heard of, and a dentist. Why the place had both a dentist and a medical clinic while missing public bathrooms was a mystery to him.
"Well, that depends. Do you know how to assist in an extended bifrontal craniotomy?" Maeve asked with a cheerful smile, offering exposed fingertips for the cat to sniff. Kaminari could honest to god hear a cricket start outside in the silence that followed. He wasn't sure which part of the situation was worse: Being so far in the middle of nowhere that towns had greater insect than human populations, or having his head cracked open by a lunatic.
"Nevermind. Sorry, I wasn't allowed my second-morning coffee so I'm a bit hyper," Maeve confessed. Denki really didn't think that was how it worked but kept his mouth shut.
"I'm Maeve Aizawa, an internal surgeon at Musatafu general hospital and this is Denki Kaminari, a student from UA High. I booked a room here for today to perform quite a fiddly operation. I know that's not how things usually work but these are extenuating circumstances."
The woman unfolded spectacles and perched them on the very end of her knobbly nose. She then leant forward so far over her computer that said glasses became obsolete.
"Uhmm... Let's see... What did you say your name was?"
"Maeve. M A E V E. Aizawa. I sent through the required paperwork 2 days ago."
The woman was still struggling. Maeve just smiled serenely while Kaminari's stomach tried to tango and waltz at the same time.
"I sent it to the email address 'lizzcattastic642@burble.com' at 4:23 pm, if that helps."
Kaminari could sense the woman's vibe change. She gulped.
"Ah, that would be why I can't find it on my work account. Thank you, dear."
Things went relatively smoothly from there on out. Maeve unpacked her suitcase full of equipment, got acquainted with the single nurse floating around, and let Kaminari take as many trips to the bathroom beforehand as he needed. There were considerable.
The surgery went like albeit complex clockwork. Maeve hadn't worked in such relaxed conditions in quite a while, actually. No nurses badgering her, or doctors drilling for information on patients. She'd spent yesterday off work so had more stamina than usual and there was a strange lack of palpable time pressure. All in all, she was quite pleased with the results.
***
"Ehrm... The popey one, religious dude... Oh yeah. Bishop to A6."
Kaminari gave a goofy grin and itched the bandage around his head with one hand while the other dragged a bishop across the chessboard. Maeve didn't bother to look up. She hadn't actually checked the game since they started, instead sketching his reconstructed brain from different angles with the accuracy of a photocopier.
"Tensei, you better be doing physio instead of terrorizing Shroedinger," Maeve called at a closed door. There was a grumbled reply on the other side and the cat in question was ejected with a sad meow.
"Knight to A4," she added to Kaminari. Maeve was relying purely on memory and his ability to move the pieces for her. Which could be problematic.
"What's a knight, again?" Denki asked, rubbing his head for the third time in five minutes.
"The 'my little killer pony' one. Are you sure you don't want to just take off the bandage? You don't need it."
Kaminari gave a charming smile.
"Nah, the girls'll be arriving soon. I need to make the most of this, nothing's sexier than an injured guy being stoic."
"A shame. Your hair is your best feature," Maeve muttered, hunkering down over the sketches with a determined expression. Apparently some important researchers from the states wanted them by the end of the evening. And others from China. And Belgium. And the UK.
After consideration, Kaminari removed the bandage and dutifully shifted the horse figurine. Maeve taught him the rules for the game 10 minutes ago, nobody had bothered before then because they assumed he'd suck at it. Up until today, they'd been right.
"You know, you don't have to let me win to make me feel better about myself," the lightning user said, examining the new set up. Surprised, Maeve took a glance at the board for the first time since the start of the game. Surely not. But so it was. Her focus had been so fixed elsewhere that the kid actually...
"What is it you say again? Check?"
Maeve's expression alone told Kaminari she was just as surprised as he was.
"Um, no that's actually checkmate," she coughed, replaying the match in her mind. The only other person who had ever beaten her at chess was Dr Shinso. He had the added bonus of knowing her every move before she made it. Kaminari just had his own mind and this was his first-ever game. He'd discretely set up an inescapable trap for her king, probably knowing Maeve was distracted and would walk blindly into it. It was frustratingly impressive.
"Wait, did Kaminari win?!" Tensei cackled, gleefully bursting through the door in his chair. It was obvious he'd been listening in on the game.
"Glad to see you're so thrilled about it," Maeve replied dryly, already setting up the board for a rematch. Tensei settled down to watch, inviting Shroedinger to jump in his lap. Kaminari desperately tried to hide a proud grin tugging at the sides of his mouth. His mind hadn't been this clear since... Well, ever. He'd never been drunk, but Denki imagined his current situation was like that of a permanent alcoholic going sober for the first time. Without withdrawal symptoms. He hadn't even thought that the game was going well, but suddenly everything just fell into place. It was probably a fluke, and now her full attention was on him, there was no chance.
Yaoyorozu and Kendo arrived halfway through. When they skipped through the front door, calling out enthusiastic greetings, all the response they got was from the cat. The other three were so engrossed in the game they didn't even look up. Tensei just murmured,
"Hey, welcome to the chess match of the century. You guys can watch if you agree to make dinner tonight."
The two new arrivals exchanged a glance.
"I'm not sure the terms 'Kaminari' and 'chess match of the century' go together," Yaoyorozu commented. Kendo shrugged.
"Still better than being in a hair spray commercial. We agree."
They just shoved their bags against a corner, pulled over two chairs, and settled down to watch. It became heated quickly.
"I bet the guest room upstairs that Maeve will win in the next five moves," Yaoyorozu muttered to Kendo. The ginger examined the board and grinned.
"I'll take you up on that. You know what, I have faith in little blondie here. If he doesn't take at least ten more turns before he loses, I'll send a text of your choice to Uwabami."
"I'm right here, you know," Kaminari grumbled, dragging a piece to take out one of Maeve's rooks.
"Mate, you can't even remember what the piece's names are. You literally call the pawns 'cannon fodder.'" Kendo commented wryly. During all this, Maeve didn't seem to hear them. She'd transcended into a higher realm of being reserved for genii in the hopes of squishing this previous idiot before he got too cocky.
"Well, I believe in him. Being a nerd suits you," Tensei said with a carefree grin towards Kaminari. Urgh. The girls were lapping up the whole 'genuinely nice person' thing he had going. At this rate Kaminari would be left with nothing but notes and equations in his future.
"Does it? Huh, I'll need a study partner who can keep up with my newfound smarts. Suppose we'll be spending a lot more time together," Kaminari purred with a wink at Yaoroyorozu, before breaking Maeve out of her meditation with a sharp "sacrificial lamb to E5." Momo's expression fell into one of horror.
"I didn't think about that. Why didn't I think about that? Maeve, you didn't say anything to me about us being study partners when I asked to come."
Maeve tore her eyes away from the board reluctantly.
"Well, there's only three of you here and I imagine Tensei will focus more on combat training with Kendo, so it isn't so much study partners but a class of two." She moved a piece across the board, hesitated, and changed its position. Kaminari, who originally looked like Christmas had come early, gave a groan of disappointment.
"I was hoping that we could have some one on one tutoring regarding replicated of electron sub orbitals... I'm sure that Kaminari is smarter than he was, but it'll take him quite a while to catch up and this is a rare opportunity to-"
"Don't worry, you've met your match with this one. It'll be good for both of you," Maeve interrupted, before glancing at the board, yawning, and moving a piece to the checkmate position. Kaminari let out a run of cussing that left the small group both shocked and impressed. Maeve smiled contentedly.
"Met your match indeed."
***
And she was quickly proved to be true. Although it didn't seem Kaminari could meet Yaoyorozu's years of chemistry experience he mastered most of high school physics in a couple of days. The kid was one of the brightest students she'd ever seen and frequently broke down in class when he found he understood a concept that for years had alluded him. They spent the bulk of a day learning electricity concepts, which caused him to get so pissed off sparks shot out of his hair. The way he'd been previously using his power was completely incorrect, made no sense and was exceptionally dangerous. Yet no one had taught him otherwise until now.
Maeve knew Kaminari was just starting to catch on to how wronged he'd been by the system. If he'd been educated correctly from a young age she imagined he'd be topping UA easily. The kid was already drawing up new designs for costume and support items, barely sleeping since the operation. Denki could be frequently found fiddling with various household appliances to see how their circuits worked. Yet he stayed his goofy, cheerful self. Even now he was excitedly prancing over the breakfast table while taking apart a blender, chased by a distraught Tensei. Maeve and Yaoyorozu had spent so much of their classes complaining about protein smoothies he'd taken it upon himself to save them.
The week passed with a casual schedule in place. Every morning they'd eat breakfast together while silently judging the fact Kendo had already been working out for an hour. Then the study team (or team nerds as the other two eloquently called them) would disappear into the library and not emerge for many hours, except for the occasional appearance of Maeve for more coffee. Yaoyorozu had been hesitant at first, but soon she started to work harder than ever as she realised there was a danger of Kaminari unseating her from the number one spot. The two became grudging friends after a while but things weren't helped by his near-constant attempts at flirting.
Kendo and Tensei would meander into either the gym or backyard and commence with quirk training. Even though the paraplegic couldn't actually take part, he had endless advice regarding strengthing and applying her fists in different scenarios. At one point he quietly wheeled into one of Maeve's lectures to steal a whiteboard. They emerged later and found it covered in scrawled stick figures congregated around a box. On top of a highly detailed sketch of Schroedinger with massive paws. When asked about it, neither the teacher nor student would elaborate.
All joined together for a lunch prepared by everyone except Maeve. They had a roster that the surgeon had been excluded from following various horror stories by Tensei. More lessons, and then dinner. After everything was cleared up, the true fun began. It turned out that Maeve sucked at anything that required luck and no skill, so all board games fitting said description were scrounged up from the depths of various cupboards. Monopoly, snakes and ladders and uno were all unleashed. The genius failed at everything miserably and seemed very amused with not being good at something. Such a concept was very new to her.
After that Maeve would video message Shoto, who was in a consistently frigid mood. He scowled so much she sent an uber eats coffee with half boiling, half ice coffee (thus impressively lukewarm) labelled 'depresso espresso' to the Todoroki household each morning. After that, she got in touch with Shinso, who was consistently in an excellent mood and looked increasingly like he'd been on the receiving end of a wolverine boxing tournament. Dr Shinso ended up flicking her a text that just read 'if you're planning on killing him, surely a more humane way would be cyanide.' The only response she gave was a smiley face, syringe and thumbs up.
It turned out Hitoshi had moved into her place for the week and was sleeping on the fold-out couch usually reserved for Todoroki. Aizawa (the third victim of her calls) when asked why just grunted something none commital. Maeve sighed that he'd found the son he'd never had and would soon kick her out of the house to make room. He just muttered something about finding his real children a long time ago and they took less effort to toilet train. Then hung up. She assumed to go beat Shinso to a pulp yet again in what was apparently training.
***
"You make a good teacher," Maeve yawned to Tensei. He sighed and swigged a beer, looking out over the front lawn.
"I don't know, this new body is... Well, it's going to take a lot of getting used to."
The man hesitated, face uncharacteristically haggard.
"Idaten sent through the paperwork today with documents for my official resignation. I knew it was coming but..."
Maeve took his hand.
"You made such a difference to so many people's lives, that can't be expressed in documents. Including mine, I can't even begin to thank you."
He smiled and rubbed his face with the other.
"Oh, I think saving my life was a step in the right direction. Alongside the paperwork were letters from all my friends in the company, I've only gotten around to reading a few but they, well, actually made it feel worse. I'm going to miss them, most of all."
The two sat in silence for a while, in reflection.
"Now what was this about a job offer?" Tensei finally asked teasingly, ruffling her hair.
"Mmm. I think you still have a lot to contribute. Wherever you want, but know a teaching post at UA is always open for you. You'd rock the Professor X type," Maeve said, watching him closely. Tensei just chuckled.
"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind."
He relapsed into bleary-eyed silence again. Maeve felt the worry she'd been trying to bury bubble to the surface. He was always so optimistic, so resilient. This couldn't be the thing that crushed him. She wouldn't let it.
"Know if you ever need anyone to talk to, about stuff as random as you, I'm just a phone call away. Or hey, a few feet at the moment. I promise I do the 'wise grandmother' act impressively well," Maeve said, giving his hand a squeeze. He snapped reluctantly away from his thoughts.
"Oh, don't worry about me. I've actually been meaning to tell you something, but haven't known how to, well..."
Oh God, had something bad happened? What had he gotten himself into?
"I suppose I should just go ahead and say it. Instead of considering these injuries as the end of something, I'm trying to make them the beginning of a new chapter. Which is why I finally plucked up the courage to do what I should've done ages ago. Maeve, I asked Sylvia to marry me and she said yes. We want you to be my best man."
The guy had been hiding his excitement all week and in the process came across as depressed. Idiot. Now the grin stretching across his face could be its own land bridge.
"That's... I'd be honoured, thank you."
"I know you've never particularly liked Sylvia, but since you've disapproved of every girlfriend I ever had I had to draw the line somewhere. She's the one Maeve. You should take more time to get to know her. The problem is she's shy and your sense of humour intimidates her," Tensei said, not even trying to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Okay, I'll make more of an effort. But it's going to be hard at the wedding, so many joke possibilities," Maeve commented with a grin.
"Don't you dare."
The door opened behind them and Kaminari skipped out onto the veranda.
"You know, I didn't think Midoriya could get more eccentric but he's managed to defy expectations. Kudos to him."
The lightning user showed Maeve and Tensei the blinking location on class 1A's group chat.
"Honestly, he knows none of us are in Hosu except for Tenya. If he wanted to meet up just whisk the turbo boi a private message."
Maeve and Tensei glanced at the phone. Then back at each other. A silent agreement was reached.
"Kaminari, check the news channels. Get Yaororozu to search train times into Hosu and if there aren't any in the next half hour... Tensei, which speed type heroes are currently stationed around, do any of them owe you favours?"
Maeve said all this while striding inside and grabbing her lab coat from a hook. Shrugging it on, the surgeon slipped her hand into its pockets and pulled out her phone.
Shit.