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By the end of their first year, it seems like almost everybody in Class A has found ways to relieve stress. There’s jam sessions for the musicians, workouts for the gym rats, shopping trips for the fashionistas, and a crafting group for the artists. Everyone loves to plan video game tournaments and movie nights, sometimes even convincing Aizawa-sensei to let them hold a sleepover in the common room. People have their private things too, including alone time and small friend group hangouts. Everyone experiences stress from the pressures and demands of UA, but most people seem to have found their ways of coping.
The category of most people, Kouji thinks, does not include Iida.
It’s a month into their second year that Kouji really starts to notice it. The way Iida’s shoulders aren’t just straight in class, but tense. Stiff. The fact that he’s started to develop shadows under his eyes big enough to rival Shinso’s. The return of Iida’s signature chopping motion, but this time when there’s no one around, as if Iida is lecturing himself.
The more Kouji pays attention, the more worried he gets. Iida has always liked reading, but it doesn’t seem like he reads for pleasure anymore. Instead of fiction or poetry, when Kouji happens to see him reading in the common space it’s always a supplemental textbook. Or a book on hero work and running your own agency..
Kouji also notices that he’s not alone in worrying about their dedicated class president. He catches Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui exchanging worried looks at lunch, sees Yaomomo try to suggest that Iida let her take on some more of the class tutoring, watches Aizawa-sensei be almost gentle with Iida during a rough training. Sero looks at Iida with the same worried face he had when Bakugo was recovering from being kidnapped. Something is clearly not right if this many people have noticed.
But Kouji really doesn’t know Iida that well. He doesn’t know what the right thing to do is. How can he even be sure something is wrong? Is it even his place to try to help?
Luckily, Kouji knows just who to ask.
…
Kouji loves studying in Tooru’s room.
He’s always been one of the few guys allowed on the girl’s side of the dorms (though now that Mineta is gone that rule seems to have been forgotten), but it was his friendship with Tooru that really made him feel at home there. She’s become one of his best friends, ever since he gave her that first flower crown. He loves discussing school work with her and listening to her as she talks about weight-training technique, fashion, or her crush on Ashido. She also seems to understand people in a way Kouji could never imagine. She knows just how to make people happy, just how to learn everything about them and make them smile. He’s so lucky to have a friend like her, who will take time away from being at the center of class excitement to spend time with (in her words) “her favorite introvert”.
“Tooru,” Kouji asks during one of their regular hangouts, “have you noticed anything weird about Iida-kun lately?”
“So you’ve noticed too?” she responds, her polka-dot headband tilting playfully. “I knew you would. You always notice stuff like that.”
Kouji wishes for the millionth time that Tooru could make him invisible. Or at least hide his blush.
“But yes, I have noticed,” Tooru continues, her tone becoming more serious. “So have Chako, Tsu, and Yaomomo. They were just talking about it at the last girl’s night. They are really worried about him, but so far they haven’t been able to figure out what is bothering him. Or been able to get him to take a break. Yaomomo says he won’t let her take over any of his peer tutoring, and Chako says it he’s started avoiding hanging out with the Deku-squad.”
Now that is especially weird. Last year those guys seemed to be attached at the hip, more in sync than the equally close (and equally chaotic) Bakusquad.
“Chako says they’ve really been pushing him to take a break lately, so she thinks that’s the only reason he’s avoiding them. But it still makes it harder for them to help him. She thinks he feels like he needs to be working all the time.”
And just like that, Kouji has an idea.
He turns it over in his mind for a moment, but the more he thinks about it, the more confident he becomes.
“Tooru, could you tell Yaomomo something for me? Maybe Uraraka and Asui too?”
“Whatcha thinking, genius?”
“Could you tell her that I’m going to ask Iida for some private peer tutoring, but that she doesn’t need to worry about trying to take that one over.”
Tooru looks at him for a minute, but after she’s figured out his idea like the mind reader she is, he can tell she’s on board.
“Kou, who knew you had it in you to be devious?! That’s a great plan!”
Kouji guesses they’re going to find out if she’s right.
…
A week later, after a flurry of anxiety-inducing (for Kouji) emails and some careful schedule juggling, Kouji is scheduled for a one-hour peer tutoring session every Thursday with Iida. Since he’s not sure this is actually going to help, he didn’t want to take more of Iida’s time. But he got the two main prerequisites for his plan to work. The first is that it’s private - Iida won’t be asked to do any work for anybody else while he’s with Kouji. The second and more important detail is that they’ll be working in Kouji’s room.
Kouji really hopes this works.
…
When Iida shows up exactly on time for their first session, he looks like he ran there. He apologizes to Kouji, explaining that his session with Kaminari, Ashido, and Satou ran long. Kouji waves him off, and quickly signs that he doesn’t mind if Iida is late. In completely predictable fashion, Iida tells him that it’s never acceptable to be late. (Kouji is probably going to have to get Tooru’s help with this one).
But for now it’s time to see if he can implement his plan.
They get set up at Kouji’s desk with his latest literature assignment. Kouji figured this subject would be the least amount of work for Iida to prepare for while also being a believable weak spot in Kouji’s academics. He doesn’t want to spook Iida or make him suspicious, so they talk about the assignment for the first 10 minutes. As far as Iida is concerned, this is just a normal tutoring session.
Then it’s time for the star of Kouji’s plan.
Yuwai-chan hops across Kouji’s room to his feet, and catches Iida’s attention -- just like Kouji hoped would happen.
“Oh!” Iida exclaimed. “I forgot you had a rabbit. What is their name?”
“Yuwai-chan,” Kouji manages to whisper, picking her up and placing her in his lap. “Do you want to hold her?” he signs.
“Oh!” Iida repeats. “I wouldn’t want to make Yuwai-chan uncomfortable,” he says, but Kouji can sense his reluctance. There’s an opening.
“She likes to make new friends,” Kouji signs, absolutely lying through his fingers. Yuwai-chan likes to hang out with him and only him, with maybe a few snuggles from Tooru. But she knows Kouji needs her help, so he’s confident she’ll go along.
“Oh… oh if that’s the case,” Iida says, “Well, if she’s in my lap then she won’t be in your way while you’re working.”
“Exactly,” Kouji signs, unable to resist smiling. This is easier than he thought.
As Kouji gently places Yuwai-chan in Iida’s lap, he carefully watches Iida’s reaction. Notices how he starts looking tense and almost frightened, like he’s afraid of hurting her. But as she settles into place and Kouji guides one of Iida’s hands to her back, his demeanor shifts. His shoulders relax lightly, his lips curl into a small smile, and his eyes crinkle with clear delight. As he begins to gently stroke Yuwai-chan’s back, he just seems the slightest bit more at peace.
So far, so good.
Once Iida looks comfortably settled, Kouji signs to him, “Will you keep an eye on her while I work on my assignment? That way I can ask you any questions I have?”
Iida lifts one hand to sign back “yes”, before continuing to pet Yuwai-chan.
Kouji doesn’t ask a single question about his assignment.
5 minutes before the end of the hour, an alarm goes off on Iida’s phone. He apologizes to Kouji and asks to review his work before he has to leave. Kouji wishes he could extend Iida’s break, but he doesn’t want to keep Iida too long. Making him late would probably stress him out more. So Kouji does as he says, promises to incorporate Iida’s suggestions, and walks him to the door.
When Kouji sees Iida’s relaxed shoulders - still impossibly straight, but not tense - as he leaves the room, Kouji decides he can call his plan a success.
…
Overtime, Kouji refines Operation “Give Iida an Excuse to Take a Break”.
After the first week, he employs Tooru in making sure Iida’s previous tutoring session ends on time. Tooru is more than happy to help, and it’s especially easy for her to show up and pull Ashido and the others away. Kouji figures that being late would make it harder for Iida to relax.
Halfway through their second session Iida receives some kind of emergency call (why is their class president even expected to be on-call?) and has to help Aoyama to Recovery Girl after he overuses his quirk. He apologizes profusely to Kouji for interrupting their session and seems determined to make up the time later, even though Kouji knows his schedule is crazy. To fix this problem, Kouji talks to Yaomomo. She works some magic by requesting to swap on-call hours with Iida so she’s the one responsible for emergencies during Kouji’s sessions. Iida seems even more relaxed during Kouji’s next session, so Kouji figures that was the right call.
For week four Kouji talks to Kyoka and she helps him make a playlist of calming music. He tells Iida it’s a study playlist he’s trying out and asks if it’s okay if they listen to it. Iida is delighted and talks for 20 minutes about the benefits of music for the brain. He doesn’t even notice that he’s distracting them from their study time. Kouji is ecstatic.
Iida’s impromptu lectures actually become a trend for their study sessions. When Kouji started his plan, he wouldn’t say he knew Iida well. He admired his dedication to his studies and to helping their classmates, but he didn’t know much about him. But now that they’ve been meeting once a week, Kouji is learning a lot about Iida. He learns that Iida loves to talk, especially about the things he’s passionate about. He learns that Iida loves animals, but his parents were worried about him taking on the additional responsibility of caring for a pet. He learns how much Iida loves and admires his brother and how important his brother’s hero legacy is to him. As they study together, Kouji’s responsible and enthusiastic class president transforms into a thoughtful and caring friend.
Eventually they settle into a routine. Yuwai-chan grows so fond of Iida that she hops over to him as soon as he arrives. He always scoops her up immediately for a cuddle and gives her a bit of lettuce (a bribe that certainly put him in her good books quickly). Kouji asks a couple questions to keep up the pretence of tutoring and Iida will talk a little about whatever he’s thinking about that day, but mostly they sit with relaxing sounds of music and Yuwai-chan’s snuffles. When the hour is up Iida hurries off to the next item on his to do list, but his shoulders are always looser than they were when he arrived.
Kouji knows this isn’t enough, not by a long shot. One hour a week isn’t enough to counteract all the stress that UA creates, especially not for someone as hard working and responsible as Iida. But Kouji still notices little differences in Iida’s behavior. He catches him smiling more at lunch on Fridays, seeming more able to relax with his friends. Tooru tells him that Uraraka says he’s stopped avoiding the Dekusquad, though he mostly seems interested in study sessions. There’s baby steps, tiny changes that hopefully mean that Iida isn’t completely overwhelmed.
But then, after the sports festival, it all goes wrong.
…
Iida hasn’t shown up for their tutoring session.
Kouji didn’t imagine this was possible. He’s heard nothing from Iida explaining why he’s gone. Tooru says he made it out of the previous study session just fine, and Yaomomo says there’s no emergencies going on.
Kouji eventually gets so worried that he goes down the hall to Iida’s room. He’s startled by a big crash when he knocks on the door, and even more shocked when Iida opens it with crooked glasses and a groggy look.
Kouji should have noticed how tired he was in class today.
Iida seems freaked out and frantic, so Kouji decides to give Iida an out so he doesn’t feel bad about skipping. Tells Iida he’s not feeling well and was wondering if they could cancel this week’s session. Iida seems both disappointed and relieved. Kouji wants to tell him to go to bed, but he doesn’t know how Iida will react. So he lets it go.
Kouji watches him the next week, and realizes that things are worse than they were before he started trying to help. The Dekusquad looks openly worried. Even Todoroki, who always seemed oblivious to the mental states of everyone around him, looks at Iida like he’s grown a second head. And that’s in the rare moments when Kouji sees Iida with the Dekusquad - he seems to have disappeared from the lunch room completely. Sero’s worried eyes are back, but this time combined with hurt when Iida rebuffs his frequent attempts to chat and relax together during class breaks. Yaomomo pulls Kouji aside and asks if he knows anything, begs him to tell her if he has any ideas to help Iida.
Kouji doesn’t know what to say.
Kouji can’t figure out why this happened. Their classes are getting a little tougher, but things aren’t that different than they were a month ago. Kaminari’s ADHD diagnosis has apparently made his tutoring sessions way more effective. Yaomomo’s been over the rep responsibilities again and again, even checked them with Aizawa-sensei, but there’s no increase in workload. Now that the sports festival is over, Iida should have an easier schedule just like the rest of Class A.
The only thing Kouji can think of that’s different is that Iida went home the weekend after the festival. But shouldn’t spending time at home make him more relaxed? He got to see his brother didn’t he?
...
The next week Iida calls him 5 minutes before their session and asks if they can reschedule. Kouji knows he won’t be able to come up with enough questions to make the tutoring session seem necessary, so he agrees.
Kouji cuddles Yuwai-chan to his chest and wonders what to do. He knows he can’t talk to Iida directly, knows that Iida will shut him out if he tries. Tooru’s reports from Uraraka about how Iida is treating the Dekusquad tell him that much. But what does that leave? How can he trick Iida into taking a break again?
How much longer can Iida keep going?
…
The answer is that Iida can keep going until Sunday.
Sunday afternoon, when Kouji is returning from sparring practice with Tooru and Ojiro, he hears something completely unexpected.
“...JUST STAY OUT OF IT! I DON’T NEED YOU NOSING IN HERE TRYING TO HELP!!! I CAN HANDLE IT!”
Iida, having just yelled at a volume that would put Bakugou to shame, is standing with his fists pressed into the common room table and glaring at Midoriya. Midoriya, standing across from him, looks determined, shocked, and like he’s about to cry all at once. Yaomomo is gaping up at Iida from her seat at the table, papers spread around her as she’s frozen in place. Standing in the door to the kitchen, Sero’s hands are raised in a placating gesture, but it’s clear from his face that he has no idea how to fix this.
Kouji sees all of this, and before he can even think, he’s moving.
Within seconds he’s in his room, scooping up Yuwai-chan before running back to the common room as fast as his feet will take him.
He doesn’t stop moving when he gets back. He sees Iida, hunched over the table with his head in his hands. He rushes forward and presses Yuwai-chan against Iida’s shaking hands. Iida jumps, startled, but he cradles Yuwai-chan to him almost instantly, instinctively. Kouji then yanks his earbuds and phone out of his gym bag and slips them into Iida’s ears without ceremony, pulling up Kyoka’s playlist and turning the volume up as loud as he dares.
Once he’s sure Iida is grounded by touch and sound, he wraps an arm around Iida’s shoulders and steers him out of the room. He’s not sure how everyone else is doing, but he figures Tooru can handle it. His job is to take care of Iida.
When they get back to Kouji’s room Iida is so compliant that it’s scary. He lets Kouji guide him to the bed, lets Kouji take his phone, lets Kouji drape him in the special weighted blanket Kouji’s mom gave him for his birthday. Kouji whispers quickly to Yuwai-chan, directing her to curl against Iida while he rests. Iida looks like he’s about to pass out, dark circles so prominent under his eyes now that Kouji is paying attention. He takes Iida’s glasses and the earbuds, switches the music to his room speakers, and turns down the lights.
Kouji isn’t really sure where to go from here, but Iida clearly needed this. He’s glad he walked in when he did.
…
After a few minutes of thinking about what to do, it dawns on Kouji that Iida’s phone has Not. Stopped. Going. Off.
That’s a problem.
He shuts it off immediately, not wanting to mess with Iida’s settings or see anything private. Instead, he turns to his own phone.
(⁎˃ᆺ˂) has created a new group chat.
(⁎˃ᆺ˂) has added Mom, The Invisibest, and 16 other people to the group chat.
(⁎˃ᆺ˂) changed the chat name to “Give Class Pres a Break”
FUCKOFF has left “Give Class Pres a Break”
SHARKBOI has added FUCKOFF to “Give Class Pres a Break”
Pika pika: Woah, Kouda-bro made a group chat? What’s happening?
Spiderman: IS IIDA OK?
Kirby has a knife: WAIT WHAT HAPPENED TO IIDA????
Smallmight: It’s all my fault
Mom: Don’t be ridiculous Midoriya! I think something else is upsetting him.
Tail-kwondo: I’ve NEVER seen Kouda move that fast.
(⁎˃ᆺ˂): Please slow down everyone!
FUCKOFF: FUCKING SHUT UP AND LET ANIMAL DUDE TALK
(⁎˃ᆺ˂) is typing
(⁎˃ᆺ˂): Iida is ok, but I have turned off his phone so it stops going off. He is sleeping and it looks like he needs it. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’m asking everybody to give him a break and leave him alone until he feels better.
birb: The Cinnamon Roll has spoken. We will not disturb our Class President.
Pika Pika: aye aye captain!
Spiderman: Take good care of him Kouda-kun!
-
(ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ “hold my flower”: Kou I’m so proud of you, you are doing such a good job looking out for Iida. Let me know if you need any help ok?
✿＼(｡-_-｡) “Kick his ass, baby. I got yo flower”: ＠＾▽＾＠
(ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ “hold my flower”: That’s my best friend! Go best friend!
-
Yaomomo-san: Kouda-kun, is there anything I can do to help?
Kouda-kun: Could you tell me what happened please?
Yaomomo-san: Of course, though I don’t really understand it. We were reviewing some class tasks for the week, but Iida-kun just looked so tired! I thought he was going to fall asleep at the table. I tried to suggest we do it later but he insisted he was busy later. Then Midoriya-kun came in. He looked so worried as soon as he saw Iida, and even though I shook my head at him to try to warn him, he asked Iida if he was ok and told him he looked like he needed some sleep. And that’s when Iida started yelling at him. It all happened so fast - you walked in right after he started yelling.
Kouda-kun: (╯︵╰,)
Yaomomo-san: I really hope Iida-kun is okay! Please take care of him for us!
-
Bakugo-kun: if four eyes needs any food let me know
Bakugo-kun: don’t tell anyone i don’t want to cook for the rest of the idiots
…
Kouji spends the rest of the evening working on his homework in the low light of the room. It seems as if Iida has run himself so ragged that nothing could wake him.
He and Yaomomo talk a bit more, and they decide they have to tell Aizawa-sensei. Iida probably shouldn’t be in class tomorrow if they can convince him not to go, and they think Aizawa-sensei can help. Kouji tells her that Iida is in his room, but as far as everyone else is concerned Iida is in his own room. He doesn’t even tell Tooru when she brings him a bento for dinner. Kouji hopes that will ensure Iida is left alone until morning.
Yuwai-chan is still keeping careful watch over Iida. Kouji knows she’s just as worried as he is.
As he curls up on his futon, he hopes things are better in the morning.
…
Kouji wakes up to Yuwai-chan YELLING at him that Iida is awake.
Iida is sitting up, looking completely disoriented and panicked. Despite worrying about it for hours yesterday, Kouji still doesn’t know how to handle this part. But he doesn’t have time to think now, so he just goes for it.
“How did you sleep?” Kouji winces. Maybe not the best way to start.
“Wha?”
Kouji changes tactics. “Do you remember what happened yesterday?” he whispers as he hands Iida his glasses. He doesn’t think Iida would understand signing right now if he tried.
“I… I don’t… wait.” Iida looks horrified. “I yelled at Izuku.”
Kouji nods. Iida looks just as upset as Kouji expected.
“I… oh no I’m such a terrible friend. Why would I do that? There’s no excuse, I can’t believe…” Iida trails off into inaudible muttering while fighting to detangle himself from the weighted blanket.
“Iida-kun,” Kouji says, putting his hands on Iida’s shoulders, “It’s okay. Everyone gets upset sometimes.”
“NO!” Iida yells, causing Kouji to jump back, “I can’t! I can’t mess up! I can’t… I can’t...” Iida crumples into himself, wrapping his head in his hands.
For the second time, Kouji scoops up Yuwai-chan and presses her into Iida’s hands. Iida curls around her completely, his shoulders rounding in a protective cocoon. Kouji sits on the floor in front of him and waits.
Kouji doesn’t know how long they sit there, but when Iida finally looks up Kouji can see his face is streaked with tears.
Kouji has always felt like he is terrible with words. He doesn’t know what to say, even when he does have the confidence to say it. But he knows that Iida needs him right now. He knows he has to try.
“Iida-kun, everyone is really worried about you. Everyone in class thinks you are amazing, but you’ve seemed so stressed and down lately. Will you let us help? Will you let me help?”
Iida stares at him as if stunned. He stares for a long time.
“Iida-kun,” Kouji presses, “what’s wrong?”
Iida nuzzles closer to Yuwai-chan and takes a deep breath, almost like he’s preparing to go into battle. Maybe he is.
“It’s… It’s been almost a year since Hosu,” Iida whispers. “Almost a year since my brother was injured. And I… I have to be good enough. I have to be more than good enough. I have to carry on his legacy, I have to make up for what I did, I have to…” Iida breaks down into shaking sobs again.
“Iida-kun,” Kouji whispers as his sobs die down, “you don’t have to be perfect.”
When Iida looks up at him in shock, Kouji wonders if Iida has ever been told that before.
“You don’t have to be perfect,” Kouji repeats.
The shaky smile and quiet “thank you” Iida gives in return make Kouji think that maybe he did the right thing.
…
After the yelling incident, things get better.
At Aizawa-sensei’s suggestion, Iida agrees to start therapy. (Kouji is incredibly frustrated when he learns Iida hadn’t started therapy after the Hosu incident.) He takes a week off from classes and tutoring. He apologizes to Midoriya a million times, despite Midoriya insisting that everything is forgiven and that he’s okay. He spends a lot of time in Kouji’s room, cuddling with Yuwai-chan and avoiding the worried, smothering attention of a panicked Class A.
Iida doesn’t get better immediately, but he does start to take care of himself again. Kouji watches with relief as the tension in Iida’s shoulder’s disappears in favour of his usual straight posture. Watches Iida smile and laugh with the Dekusquad. Watches him joke around with Sero during class breaks. Watches him coordinate class tasks with Yaomomo. Watches him be the leader and role model that Class A loves.
Kouji almost starts crying when he sees Iida reading a novel for fun.
Of course, Kouji and Iida still have their weekly meet-ups. Kouji is ecstatic when they completely give up on the pretense of tutoring, proud of Iida’s progress. Yuwai-chan is spoiled silly with presents of lettuce, bok choy, and bell peppers.
6 months later when Iida starts bringing his own pet rabbit, Orenji-chan, Kouji is delighted to make a new friend.
…
"Kouda-kun, may I ask you a question?"
Kouji looks up from petting Orenji-chan. “Yes, of course.”
"Well, I believe that we have become quite close friends this year, and given that, and given that my other close friends call me by my given name, I wanted to say that you can call me Tenya.”
“If I call you Tenya then you should call me Kouji.”
When he sees Tenya’s shoulders relax, Kouji smiles.