Chapter Text
Sero woke up with an uncomfortable feeling behind his eyes, a pounding in his head, and a dry throat.
Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, which relieved the strange pressure a little. He stuck his hand out to his nightstand, fishing around for his phone, only to succeed on knocking it to the floor.
Making an exasperated sound, Sero fell off the bed while searching for his phone. Great, just great. Picking up his phone, Sero turned it on. He needed to know what time it was.
After a few seconds of staring, at the screen, Sero gave up on trying to find out the time. If he was late for class, then he’d be late for class. That was a problem for future Sero. Current Sero was only concerned about climbing back into bed and falling back asleep.
He tried to enjoy the warm embrace of his pillows and blankets, but it was ridiculously difficult with the pounding in his head and how scratchy his throat was. All he wanted was a few more minutes of rest— was that really too much to ask?
Sero couldn’t even think why his head hurt so much. He didn’t stay up late worrying (for once), and he didn’t get any new injuries during training. Eventually, he gave up on trying to go back to sleep, and dragged himself out of bed, rubbing his eyes. He slowly got dressed, fumbling with his belt twice and messing up his tie thrice.
Grabbing his bag and his phone, Sero bid his comfortable room farewell and dragged himself over to the elevator.
The doors slid open and the black-haired boy walked towards the kitchen, posture slumped. Why on Earth was he so tired?
Sighing, Sero opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice, he needed some citrus to make him feel better.
Wait, was he getting sick? No. He didn’t get sick. He just was under the weather. Or his sleep deprivation was getting to him.
Shaking his head, he grabbed a glass and poured himself a nice tall glass of juice, downing it in an instant. Yeah, he felt better already! He totally wasn’t sick.
“Good morning, Sero!”
Well, he wasn’t sick, but suddenly he felt sick to his stomach.
“Good morning, Iida,” he managed to squeak out, keeping his back to the class president.
“I’m surprised to see you up this early,” he said suddenly beside Sero, smiling politely.
“Uh well, I normally stay in my room for a while after I wake up.”
“Well, it’s nice to see you.”
Sero’s face turned red and he stared down at his empty glass, breathing slowly. God, why did he have to be so pan? Why did Iida have to be so hot?
“Do you happen to know where the orange juice is?” Iida’s voice snapped Sero out of his thoughts.
“Oh, uh, I have it,” he said awkwardly, handing it to Iida, who accepted it gratefully.
The black-haired boy grabbed an apple and rubbed his temples. Apparently the orange juice didn’t help as much as he thought it did.
Today was going to be a long day.
…
“Tonight! My room! Movie night!” a cheerful voice exclaimed as pink hands slammed down on Sero’s desk.
Sero flinched slightly as Mina hopped from foot to foot excitedly. She had just arrived in the classroom and had already caused the pounding in Sero’s head to come back. Yay!
“You’ve caught my attention,” Kaminari said as Kirishima dragged Bakugo over.
“Like it’s hard to do, you’re distracted by everything,” Jiro commented slyly, smirking.
“I have a condition!” the electric boy hissed, stomping his foot.
“We know bro,” Kirishima said, patting his back reassuringly.
“Moving on— we need a plan!” Mina grinned. “Kami, can you do snacks?”
“I am a snack.”
“Shut up, Pikachu.”
“Make me.”
“Bakubro, be nice.”
“I’m not nice.”
“He said to be nice, not that you were nice.”
“Shut it, Ears.”
“Moving on! Please!” A short pause. “Thank you. Jiro and I can do blankets slash general comfiness, Kirishima just has to get Bakugo to show up, and Sero can pick the movie.”
“Well Sero has to pick a movie soon because if I don’t like it I’m ditching you guys for Momo.”
“Jiro! How could you betray your family like that?”
“She hasn’t outgrown her emo phase, Pinkie Pie. Teenage rebellion and all that shit.”
“You say that like you aren’t a fellow edgelord,” Jiro rebuked, looking down at her phone.
Bakugo just shrugged and joined her in the ‘looking at your phone and ignoring your friends’ club.
“Well I think you both are super manly!” Kirishima smiled with the brightness of a thousand suns. “No offense Jiro…”
“None taken. I need an answer though, Sero.”
Everyone turned to him expectantly, only to be met with silence.
“Oi! Soy Sauce! Are you even listening?” Bakugo barked, looking up from his phone to smack Sero upside the head.
Sero blinked a few times before looking at everyone, a dazed look on his face, eyes slightly unfocused. “Sorry— what were we talking about again?”
Bakugo scoffed. “Ears wanted to know what shitty movie you picked out for the shittily spontaneous movie night Pinky decided to throw.”
“We had a movie night planned?”
“No we didn’t! Pinky just made one up! Are you even listening to me?”
“Sorry. I, uh, don’t really care. One of you can pick.” He rubbed his eyes and continued staring into space.
“Wait! I know that face!” Mina exclaimed, grabbing Sero’s shoulders and pulling him in close. “You’re in love~”
“Huh? No I’m not,” Sero said, shaking his head slowly as his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.
“It looks like it~” Kaminari teased, poking one of Sero’s cheeks.
“Squad Mom has found love!” Mina squealed and feigned fainting. “Now, who’s our future Squad Dad?”
“There isn’t a future Squad Dad, Mina!”
“So it’s another Squad Mom then?”
“It’s no one! I’m not in love!”
“I find that hard to believe Mr. Pan Panic.”
“Besides— everyone in class is super hot. There has to be someone,” Kaminari chimed in, grinning.
“So just make it easier on yourself and tell us who it is!”
“I’m just tired!“
At this point, Bakugo and Jiro had lost interest in the conversation, opting to return to their seats. Kirishima just followed Bakugo like the adorable puppy he was, spreading sunshine wherever he went.
When Sero didn’t say anything, his friends started the interrogation.
“Are they a boy, girl, neither, both?”
“That’s so valid.”
“I try, Kami.”
“Are they in this class?”
“Do they go to UA?”
“I don’t think he talks to anyone outside of UA.”
“Dang, where are those smarts when it comes to testing?”
“They are specifically reserved for snooping.”
“Yeah that’s fair.”
“Are you two going to leave me alone?”
“NO!”
“NO!”
Sero sighed as his friends continued asking questions, face turning darker shades of pink at the more scandalous questions.
“Everyone, please return to your seats!” Iida’s voice cut through the aimable chatter in the classroom, loud and firm as it always was.
The plain-faced boy let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for Iida. He was always there for the class, crazy smart, passionate about everything he did, not to mention how ridiculously pretty his eyes were…
A gleeful look crossed Mina’s face as Kaminari headed towards his seat.
“Is it Iida?” she whispered into Sero’s ear.
Sero choked on his own spit as Mina cackled maniacally and walked away, head held high.
…
Iida briskly crossed the training field where the class had gathered, determination in his step.
“Sero, are you feeling alright?” he asked, concern set into his face.
The black-haired boy was all alone, practically doubled over, and gasping for air.
He was just tired, that was it. For whatever reason, he was tired.
“Sero?” Iida asked again, eyebrows drawing together.
Sero’s head snapped up and he tensed a little when he realized who it was. Uh oh.
“Hey Class Prez, what’s going on?” His voice was a little more strained than usual. Why was Iida here? Where did Kaminari disappear to?
“I wanted to know if you were okay— you’ve been a little off today.”
“Huh? I’ve been off? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Smooth, Sero. Real smooth.
“Well, you’ve been quieter in classes, a little dazed, and just now you were extremely out of breath. I’m worried.”
Sero’s cheeks turned pink as Iida stepped closer, placing his hand on Sero’s forehead. “No— I’m okay!”
“Are you sure you’re alright? Your face is quite red.”
“Yeah! I’m totally good!” Sero squeaked out, forcing a smile.
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t sick! Not getting adequate rest will only make it worse!”
“Don’t worry, Iida! I never get sick! Perks of growing up with grubby little sisters…” That much was true.
Iida stepped back and straightened his posture. “Well, please visit Recovery Girl if anything comes up.”
Sero gave a thumbs up as Iida jogged back over to Midoriya and Uraraka.