Chapter Text
Iida loved routine, and he followed his routine. When things got in the way of said routine he tended to do one of two things; ignore it, or eliminate the problem as soon as possible. Well, at least that’s what he tried to do, but sometimes he just couldn’t win. By that he meant never, as far as Iida was concerned he never seems to win when it comes to his class.
For instance during his class’s free period he would usually chat with Midoriya and Uraraka for five to ten minutes, then he would go back to his desk and work on any assignments he had to do and study for any upcoming exams he felt concerned over. Any extra time would be spent reading and making sure the rest of the class maintained order. Today was an easy day, he had already finished his homework and was prepared for any test or pop quiz that could come his way, meaning Iida could continue reading his latest find, an interesting book on the history of hero court cases in Japan and how they impacted hero law, truly fascinating.
He had just sank into the book blocking out almost everything around him before being brought back to the present with the loud scraping of a chair followed by Kaminari strutting to the front of the room and shouting, “Hey everyone!” What did he not understand about staying quiet so they didn’t wake up Aizawa? If he wanted any free time he’d try to stay relatively quiet. “We’re gonna see who the strongest guy in class is! With an arm wrestling competition.” Sighing, Iida shook his head as Bakugou was the first to respond, there goes any chance of a relaxing free period. Whatever Bakugou said got Kaminari to add rules to the game, “No quirks.” Great, at least he didn’t have to worry about the room getting destroyed or an explosion waking their teacher.
Iida’s eyes went back down to his book, hopefully he’d be able to finish the chapter by the end of class, besides he had no intentions of participating in such a childish game. As far as he was concerned there were better ways to waste your time than trying to rank the class by arm strength. Truly a waste of time. He was roughly a third of the way through his current chapter before seeing someone walk up to his desk from the corner of his eye.
He didn’t even need to look up that “Yo Prez!” could have only come from Sero, where the nickname was out of genuine respect for the title of class president or a light hearted jab he’d never know. .
Iida answered him with a bored, “Yes?” not bothering to look up from his book as he did.
“Do you wanna arm wrestle?” Was Sero really trying to get him to play such a ridiculous game?
Iida sighed, as far as he was concerned there was no point to playing such a childish game. “No offense… But, shouldn’t we be using this time to study?” Glancing up he caught sight of of a small frown on Sero’s face before it flashed back to his normal grin, Iida almost felt bad for making his smile drop, but not enough to get him to play. He looked back down at his still open book attempting to read again.
“Aw come on man, we all know you’re one of the smartest kids in class. Have some fun.” Iida looked back up at Sero and his ridiculous grin, studying him as he did, unsure of how he felt. He enjoyed the fluttering feeling in his chest from the compliment. Even if it wasn’t much of a compliment it still felt good to hear that his hard work didn’t go unnoticed. Although the “have some fun” comment did sting. Was he really that much of a “party-pooper” as Kaminari once put it? He literally tried to murder someone out of revenge! How did people still think he was a buzzkill? Okay so bad choice of words, but clearly it wasn’t like all he cared about was the rules… He was pulled out of his quiet contemplation as Sero leaned over Iida’s dest and into his face, his wide toothed grin morphing into a smirk that made Iida’s heart beat faster. “Besides... I think I can take you.”
Oh. Iida knew it was ridiculous, but not even he couldn’t resist a challenge especially when it came from someone with such an impish yet irresistable smir-- NOPE. Shaking his head he raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer to the black haired boy “Really…” he could feel the corner of his mouth twitching up as he looked Sero over again, his gaze landing on Sero’s own as they stared each other down “What makes you so sure?”
His response was to keep that devilish smirk up and say, “Gut feeling.” All Iida could think was “ it’s on.” Grabbing a bookmark, Iida slid his book into his desk. Even he could let loose from time to time. .
“Okay then. I believe you said no quirks?”
Iida watched as Sero pulled a chair over to the other side of his desk so he was sitting across from him, “Yep, which shouldn’t be a problem unless you plan to use your legs, but I’ll tell you right now I’m not holding your foot.” Iida nearly choked in shock! I take it back if this is what they think I do I’d rather be a party-pooper buzzkill! He could feel his face grow hot as he stammered, “That’s disgusting, I would never!”
His disgust turned into embarrassment as Sero chuckled, brushing his worry off that darn relaxed smile never leaving his face. Why do I keep looking at it? , “Relax man, it’s a joke, come on.” Sero shifted into an arm wrestling stance as he held out his right hand for Iida to take.
Iida hesitated before reaching out, his heart beating a mile a minute as he grabbed Sero’s hand. He could feel Sero’s fingertips lightly brushing the back of his as they both readjusted their grips, sending a slight shiver up his spine. The callouses on Sero’s palm betrayed the training that went into being able to use his hands for more complex quirk tricks. Looking up from their interlocked hands Iida realized Sero was probably waiting for him to give the okay. “I’m ready.”
He wasn’t sure how but Sero’s grin got even wider, “On the count of three then… 1… 2… 3!” He felt Sero start to push, causing him to flex his own arm to keep them even. Iida had to admit Sero seemed to be deceptively strong, but here he didn’t stand a chance.
Iida felt the corner of his lip twitch, it wouldn’t hurt to tease him. “You know I’ve never seen the appeal of arm wrestling before…” An absolute lie, in fact Iida used to arm wrestle with his brother all the time when he was younger just to prove he was going to be as strong as him one day. “... but this is fun.” Now that was the truth even if he couldn’t explain why, Iida knew he was inexplicably happy at that moment to do something so childish.
Sero gave another unsuccessful push as his grin faltered before coming back even cockier. “Are-are you even trying?”
“A little yes, but isn’t it just for fun?” Obviously he knew the goal was to beat his opponent, and it wasn’t like he was putting in no effort, in fact he was impressed enough with Sero’s grip strength. He just didn’t want their little competition to end just yet. Iida didn’t usually get to spend time with a lot of his classmates -- even if it was because of his dedication to his studies. --
“Come on Iida.” He glanced to the side as Denki leaned over to watch them, “Just take the poor guy out already!”
“Wh-what?” Why would Kaminari imply such a thing? He wasn’t anywhere near close enough to Sero to do something like that yet. Yet?! He could feel his face start to heat up again as his mind began to go all over the place, what if he did want to date Sero? Would he say yes? WhY was he even thinking of this?!
“Jesus four-eyes just beat him already…” Bakugou’s crude words snapped Iida back into reality, cocking his head he looked over at Bakugou as he continued. “... stop playing around.” Without stopping to think he looked back at Sero his hand into the tabletop. Iida sharply pulled his hand away from Sero and close to his own chest as soon as the other let go.
“Go-Good game Sero. Thank you for playing against me.” Iida’s mouth wavered as he tried to pull off a clearly not relaxed smile.
Sero continued to stare at his hand for a few more seconds before snapping out of whatever stupor he was in, finally looking back up at Iida with one of his playful grins from earlier. “Yeah you too prez.” Quickly Sero turned around and made his way back to his desk, Iida’s eyes following him as he did.
Once Iida pulled his eyes away from Sero’s back he realized Kirishima now sat across from him, the bubble of excitement from going against Sero finally fading away. It wasn’t like he disliked Kirishimia in fact he wanted to try and arm wrestle him, but when he took his hand it didn’t feel right. Iida couldn’t describe it, maybe it was the grip, or the size and shape of his hands but compared to Sero it felt… off. “Ya ready man?” Iida looked up at Kirishima not even the sharp toothed smile made him feel as excited as seeing Sero’s playful smile had. Iida mentally shrugged, he’d worry about it later, and who knows?
Maybe he was just unused to physical contact with his peers and that was why it felt so different. “Of course. Let’s begin.” With a nod Kirishima counted to three, both of them tightening their grips, faces twisting into ones of concentration. Kirishima was an incredibly strong opponent. Strong enough to beat out Iida after a minute long standstill. After congratulating Kirishima on his victory he looked around the room, quickly spotting Sero still at his desk who seemed to be looking anywhere and everywhere else besides Iida’s direction. Sighing Iida shook his head and his book back out. He’d figure out what was wrong with himself later.