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Tenya Iida is a lot of things. A model student with almost perfect grades, an enthusiastic if not albeit eccentric class representative, a doting mother hen to his classmates (especially towards the ever accident prone Midoriya along with the overly hormonal Mineta), but he is also human, something that he tends to forget from time to time.
It was a mere miscalculation really. All of the vending machines along with the cafeteria had run out of orange juice, but Iida had brushed it off as a minor inconvenience. Little did he know just how big this crisis would become. It just so happened that he promised Midoriya that he would accompany him during his evening training session, a promise he intended to keep. He figured that since he didn’t exert himself too much during quirk training today, he would be alright as long as he only pushed himself a little bit. However, he failed to account one simple fact:
It’s virtually impossible to do the bare minimum when Midoriya is involved.
He should have considered stopping when he felt he legs cramping, more so when his breathing became ragged sooner than expected. On the other hand, his training companion was fine, barely breaking a sweat. He recalled being asked if he wanted to take a break several times, but his stubbornness surpassed his exhaustion. Gosh darn it, he was the successor to the great Ingenium name. Tiredness be darned!
And then it happened.
An ugly, dry stutter releases from one of his engines, the other continuing to run like it had a mind of its own. He couldn’t react fast enough as he attempted to get off the track, not paying attention to the uneven pavement next to the synthetic rubber path. A sickening crunch and he descends, his still running engine propelling him faster towards the ground. He lifts his arms in front of him, prepared to land on his forearms to evenly disburse the impact, and closes his eyes.
“Iida!” He eyes shoot open and his breath gets knocked out of him by a flash of green. “What happened? Are you okay?”
Iida wheezes a small thanks, “I am forever grateful for your vigilance.” Midoriya gently places him back on his feet, only for him to wince and crumple back into the green haired boy’s arms. “Forgive me Midoriya. It appears I may have to inconvenience you once again.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to see Recovery Girl?”
“I can assure you Midoriya, a twisted ankle is nothing to worry over,” Iida reasons as Midoriya sits him down on his bed. “I shall be fully functional in no time.” He throws his injured friend a skeptical look, his concern growing when he sees the familiar air chops, more rigid than usual.
“Don’t push yourself too much Iida. It’s okay if you’re not feeling well.”
Iida uncharacteristically snorts, “I’m baffled that you of all people are lecturing me about proper self-care.”
“Alright… Don’t be afraid to call me if you need anything.” Iida nods vigorously and shoos Midoriya away. Subconsciously, he knew that Midoriya was right, but part of him felt responsible for overexerting himself. Furthermore, he should have known better than to use his quirk without properly replenishing himself. Granted, he’s never experienced an orange juice shortage before. His family always made sure to be properly stocked with their respective fuels (how each individual family member ran on different juices is beyond him, but he never questioned it). He never predicted this would be one of the trials he would have to face as a hero in training. He made a mental note to invest in a small fridge for his room for emergency rations should moments like this happen again.
Speaking of which, he hisses as he props his injured ankle across his other leg, grimacing at both the swollen, purple joint along with the irritated skin around his slightly burnt engine pipes. Aside from the obvious flesh wounds, there was another rather large concern. Had he have gone to Recovery Girl like Midoriya had wanted him to, who was to say how detrimental the after affects would be. Besides, his stamina was already drained, so the chance of her healing him was already slim. Furthermore, he wasn’t entirely sure if his little stunt had caused any internal damage. It was a shame to say, but his treatment might be beyond her skill set. For now, a proper good night’s rest should suffice.
He tries to close his eyes and wait for sleep to overtake him, but as expected, the throbbing pain in his calves refused to grant him mercy. It worsens when he tries to turn to his side, accidentally moving his bad ankle in an unpleasant direction. Steadily, he reaches for his phone. Maybe he should have Midoriya take him to the infirmary, but… He hovers his thumb above his friend’s name. He knew the green haired boy already felt guilty for inviting him. The last thing Iida needs to see is Midoriya crying over his injuries. He would rather not do that to his friend. That only leaves one other (rather volatile) option, he thinks as he scrolls up and presses the call button.
“Yello~”
“Ah, good evening,” he twitches, painfully aware of how overly informal her greeting was. No matter, “I have a favor to ask. Would you mind stopping off at my room, it’s an emergency.” He pauses, then clears his throat before quietly adding, “Also, could you buy me some orange juice…”
He hears an excited squeal before the other line hangs up. Moments later, someone rapidly knocks against his door.
“It’s open.” In pops in a familiar mop of pink hair and curious yellow eyes darting back and forth.
“Where is it?” Mei enthusiastically scans his room, “where’s the baby that needs fixing?” Iida lets out an uncomfortable cough.
“Um… that would be me…” he nervously points to his legs and she gasps in horror.
“You didn’t.”
“I unfortunately did.”
“B-but your legs,” she looks ready to cry, “Oh god, your beautiful engines!!” she rushes to his side, dropping ungracefully dropping her tool box along with a hefty plastic bag onto his ground. “What did you do?”
He gives her a pleading look, “Please don’t be too upset with me. I overestimated myself and now am in a great deal of pain. I was hoping your mechanical experience could help resolve my… predicament.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but you owe me Legs…”
Several excruciating hours and a bottle of orange juice later, Iida’s mufflers were thoroughly clean and his burns, properly dressed with ointment. Both had been uncomfortably silent throughout the process, only exchanging a few affirmative dialogs, making sure Mei didn’t cause further damage. She taps his leg and tells him to sit up so that she can wrap up his ankle as well, gently massaging it to improve blood flow before stabilizing it with some gauze Iida had on hand.
“You’re lucky,” she mumbles, walking over to her tool box to grab a clean oil rag and wipe off any residual medication. “Thanks to the biomechanical material of your quirk, your engines took minimum damage; however, there is still one problem.” Her head shoots up towards him, the tattered cloth twisted menacingly in her hands. Iida’s eyes widen in fear. She whips the rag at him, emphasizing every word with each smack. “You! Stupid! Boy!”
“Hatsume!” he raises his arms to defend himself, “This is highly inappropriate!”
“So is running without fuel!”
“It was a minor miscalculation at best!” This earned him more smacks. “It’s not—I’ve never…” he stutters. He sighs, “I’ve always had my family to rely on. I-I didn’t know.” He stiffens when he sees Mei clenching the towel tightly, preparing for another barrage of hits, only to feel her flick him on the forehead.
“Well, now you know.” She gives him a cheeky smile but her eyes didn’t carry the same mischievous glint. He watches as she wobbles back to her tools, haphazardly tossing the rag back in. Her exhaustion was evident as she stumbles to the door, and Iida is overcome with guilt. Had he been an inconvenience and worn her out?
He jumps out of bed and reaches out to her, barely registering the pain that shoots up his lower leg. His hand wrap around her wrist, pulling her back. Mei looks up at him with surprise.
“Did you need something else—”
“Stay,” he blurts out.
Mei tilts her head, “What?”
“I-it’s past curfew,” he reasons lamely, “and I’m a relatively healthy and athletic young man while you are an objectively attractive female. Would it not rise suspicious if you left my room at such an ungodly hour?” He averts his gaze from her bemused smirk.
“Oh? How bold of you robot man.”
Iida nervously adjusts his glasses, “I’m merely stating facts.” He flinches when she rests her other hand on top of his.
“And who am I to deny such sound logic?”
After much debate over who gets the bed, Iida finds himself patiently laying on the mattress, curiously watching Mei as she switches between tinkering with some gizmo she somehow conjured up and guzzling one of the cans of coffee she brought along with the juice. Despite the alarming amount of caffeine intake, her eyes occasionally flutter down, her head lolling back and forth.
“Pardon me Hatsume, but you seem fatigued. Would it not make sense to call it a night and rest?” She shakes her head.
“Dun’ wanna,” she slurs, “if I sleep, I’ll wake up home.” She cracks open another can and chugs, letting out a satisfied “ahhh”.
“That’s preposterous. Are you implying that I would carry you back to your room in my current state?” he pauses, “unless… you want me to?” She snorts at his confused expression.
“Another time robot man. Besides, I’m not tired,” she shakes her head and yawns unconvincingly. “Sleep is for the weak.”
“I really don’t think that’s healthy Hatsume…” Mei shrugs him off and continues fiddling with her doohickey. Iida strains his eyes to focus on the small machine. She had been fumbling with it for a while and although Iida’s knowledge on support items was quite limited, he could tell that she was close to finishing. It’s no wonder she was so adamant on staying up. Her dedication to her craft was admirable, really.
But something wasn’t sitting right. He manages to shift himself onto the floor, using the edge of the mattress for support while he lowers himself into a comfortable sitting position next to her preoccupied form.
“You’re not obligated to answer, but what did you mean when you said you would ‘wake up home’?” The tinkering stops. Iida sees her hands trembling. “I’m sorry, it was a stupid question. I shouldn’t have pried.”
Mei pulls down her lab goggles and gingerly places the machine down. “I wouldn’t call them nightmares, but I’ve been having some bad dreams about being back at home with my family. They’re… not proud that I’m making support items.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s a commission-based career that I really have to push for if I plan on making it, and even then, it’s not practical unless I’m working for a big company.” She sighs, “Before moving to the dorms, they kept pushing for me to transfer out and now, they’ve been calling and giving me flack so I haven’t been sleeping well.” She flops back against the bed, leaning her head by his shoulder. He instinctively pats her hair, comforting her the only way he knows how.
“But you’re one of the most promising students we have. Power Loader even praised you for your tenacity and creativity.”
“I also caused the most accidents in the support lab and my production to sales ratio is not ideal.” Iida sweat drops, unable to deny the truth behind her rebuttal. “At this point, I’m just stalling for time, hoping to make something that won’t explode cause I’m starting to doubt myself, y’know?” she chuckles but the amusement doesn’t reach her eyes.
“I just want to do a good job…” The light behind the usually eccentric yellow irises dulled and Mei tries to move away from his hand. She was a failure. She didn’t feel worthy of comfort. Instead, Iida’s arm shoots out and presses her head into his broad chest. “W-what are you—”
“Midoriya’s shoot style, though still not fully developed, was inspired by you thanks to one of your ‘failures’ when you tried to get me to ‘run with my arms’.” He uncharacteristically smirks when he sees her squirm in embarrassment.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Of course, you don’t” he teases then clears his throat. “Regardless, you then proceed to be the main designer for his coiled boots along with designing his arm bracers which then evolved into his amplifier gloves for his condensed attacks.”
“I had prototypes for both already, so I just adjusted them to fit him. It wasn’t anything special,” she mumbles, unsure on what Iida was trying to accomplish by telling her this.
“But if memory serves correct, you also collaborated with Power Loader to fulfill a commission for Kaminari’s pointer and shooter. You designed and produced a specialty item that not only enhanced his attack abilities, but it also ensured that he wouldn’t hurt anyone around him.”
“So? It was a pretty simple concept and I had a pro monitoring me.”
“You, um…” Iida coughs, “also did a pretty perfect job fixing me up… despite me not being one of your babies.” He looks down at her nervously, hoping she can hear the sincerity in his words.
“Iida…” Mei whispers, barely audible if not for their close proximity. There were a lot of feelings crossing through her mind and she didn’t have an experiment to distract her from them. It… scared her. She tries to jerk away again but Iida reaches out and pulls her back towards him, his face uncomfortably close to hers in a Mei-esque fashion.
“My point is that you have had successes, and they, though few, have been phenomenal and worthy of celebrating.” He doesn’t break eye contact, squishing her cheeks slightly between his hands so she doesn’t move away again. “You are correct to want to do a good job, but what you fail to notice is that you are already doing a great job. Your parents may not see it but I do, and I am proud of you.”
He releases her face, and she falls back into his chest. Mei didn’t know when she started to tear up, but she buries her face into his shirt and tries not to sob too loudly. Accustom to the tears of his classmates, he goes back to patting her head and ignoring the wet spot that was growing against him. He holds onto her for a few more minutes until her breathing evens, pulling away to see a more relieved expression on her face.
“Better?” She nods enthusiastically. “Excellent. Now, if you so desire, we can call it a night and rest our weary souls. Should you choose to stay up… I personally wouldn’t mind keeping you company if you need someone to talk to,” he blushes, trying not to stutter out the last part. “All I ask is not to explode anything in my room.”
Mei salutes him and helps pull him onto the bed before plopping down next to him. “I think a cuddle will suffice.”
Iida’s face heats up further, flailing his free arm frantically.
“J-just a moment! This type of intimate interaction is not appropriate!” She wraps her arms around his torso, ignoring his protests. “I do not consent to such illicit behavior that should be reserved for lovers!” Her head nestles into his chest and she sighs in bliss.
“We’re not even dating!!”
Midoriya woke up early for his daily morning run. He left his room and turn towards the staircase before lingering towards the ascending steps. Iida didn’t message him at all last night despite his leg looking less than ideal.
Just a small check-up wouldn’t hurt…
He climbs up the stairs and reaches Iida’s door, knocking and calling out his name softly. When he doesn’t hear a response, he figures his friend was still asleep, so… Curiosity gets the better of him and he turns the knob, half expecting it to be locked. To his surprise, the door handle went down fully and the door slid open. He pops his head in and gasps.
Maybe he should let him rest a bit more…
He fumbles for his phone and snaps a quick photo, sending it to Uraraka and Tsu. Little does he know that chaos he has just unleashed.
*Bonus Scene*
Bakugo storms into the kitchen, phone in hand. As expected, Mina’s sitting by the island, sipping on a cup of coffee. She sees him approaching her and slyly grins towards him.
“Morning Blasty.”
“Oi Raccoon Eyes! The fuck did you get this?”
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” Mina giggles mischievously, “Besides, aren’t you more curious how this happened? I mean, Class Prez and the support tech girl. How scandalous.”
Bakugo stares at the photo again, grimacing. “Shit, I know Glasses isn’t above breaking a rule or two, but damn. Her hands are all over him.”