Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Iida Tenya was a good kid, really! Hair perfectly combed back, respectful to his teachers, perfect grades, perfect- well. Everything! (Except for social skills, mainly because people were intimidated by bluntness, but alas. He was perfect. Really.)

Which is why everything changed when he heard one of his fellow classmates walk in (he was early, as always) and his heart skipped a beat. Weird. He sighed as he attempted to calm the rest of his classmates down. It was his duty as class president! Soon, class started, and the day's earlier incident went unnoticed.

Sero Hanta wasn't the opposite of perfection, but he was most definitely NOT perfect. He was barely scraping by in most of his classes, he often made jokes at the wrong times, and he was kind of a mess. Which did not explain why Tenya was having a mental screaming match with himself at hell o'clock in the morning. Well, it kind of did. Tenya was the kind of kid to follow the rules to the smallest detail. Sero was the kind of kid who saw the rules as a suggestion, following them just enough not to be considered breaking them. Tenya was the kind of kid who would die before forgetting a school assignment. Sero was the kind of kid who would calculate how much effort to put in to pass. In conclusion, they were opposites. So why had Tenya started feeling weird around him? He figured they were friends, but none of his symptoms lined up with that.

Clammy hands.

Erratic heartbeat.

Shortness of breath.

What was wrong with him?

Now, normally, people didn't ask about him. So, normally, people wouldn't know that, as a child inheriting his family's quirk and legacy, he was expected to be completely perfect all the time. Make sure to become a hero just like those that came before him. Like his brother was going to be. Sometimes he felt as if he only made it this far because of family ties, but that was irrelevant.

And so, as expected, none of his friends understood his crisis.

"YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON SERO?!" Uraraka exclaimed.

"Uraraka, I do not have a crush-"

"I agree with Ochako, kero," Tsuyu replied, winking.

Iida looked back at her, unimpressed. "For the last time, I've just been feeling a bit weird around him, but I'm sure-"

"Just admit you like him!" Deku cried. "Ah- Sorry, but it's true."

Iida cringed. If Deku of all people was pointing out how obvious he was, he really needed some help. That boy was so oblivious. He sighed. "I don't like him like that. I'll get over it."

"You know, those are two conflicting statements," Todoroki stated, deadpan as ever.

"I know."

If only it was that easy.

The more he interacted with Sero, the harder it was to get the boy out of his mind. He never did anything, of course, but he needed to get rid of his crush, and fast. He tried willing it away, he had duties to fulfill, after all.

He was doing so well. Avoiding talking to the object of his affections could only do so much, however.

Tenya couldn’t sleep. He had lain awake for many hours before he gave up on sleep. Grabbing his current pair of glasses, he walked downstairs. He didn’t expect anyone else to be awake, but someone just had to prove him wrong. And who else would be perfect for the job but the one and only Sero Hanta. He was sitting on the counter, seemingly waiting for something to heat up, as the microwave was on.

“Hi,” Tenya said. What the heck was he doing?

Sero looked up, startled. “Oh- Hi! What’s the class prez doing up so late?” He grinned easily, waving Iida towards the counter.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Tenya replied.

“Do you want some?” Sero asked. He pulled out some reheated leftovers. Dinner from yesterday.

“Why not?”

As they chatted about classes and heroes and everything in between, Tenya felt himself falling. Soon, it was four in the morning and they were both exhausted. They headed to their respective dorms and bid each other goodnight.

If only Tenya could say that was the last of their late night conversations.

For some unknown reason, Tenya would go downstairs every time he was restless in hopes of seeing Sero. And every time he went down, Sero was there. He kept telling Sero to go to sleep earlier, but Sero would ask why he was awake, and that conversation would just continue until they gave up. One night, Tenya was sure he ruined everything.

It started like normal. They were simply talking like they did at least once a week. That was until fatigue hit Tenya like a truck. Sero had just been laughing at a joke he told, and he was so...

“You’re pretty.”

“...What?” Sero was looking at him, confused. As if he had just processed what was said, he turned bright red. “Uh-”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean that. I mean, you are pretty, but-” The choppiness of Tenya’s words matched the choppiness of his movements. His hair was a mess, in contrast to its usual slickness, and he retreated back to his dorm, apologizing profusely.

Sero was left staring at him leave, before sadly smiling and cleaning up. If only the other knew what he felt.

The next day, they acted as if nothing had happened, though their friends questioned their matching lost expressions. Perfection was damning, for sure. And maybe Iida Tenya wasn't so perfect, after all.

Chapter Text

Iida Tenya might be clueless, but he wasn’t entirely oblivious. He noticed the stares. One particular stare. He sighed, grabbing his bag. Another day of pretending not to see a pair of dark eyes watching his every move.

He remembered when he told his friends about what happened.

“Oh my god. You are a disaster.” Midoriya was staring at him in shock. “And that’s coming from me.”

“He totally likes you back, go for it!” Uraraka said. “I can’t believe you let him slip through your fingers like that.”

Tenya glared at his friends. “Screw off.”

“Wow, watch your language!!” Uraraka exclaimed, giggling. “Back us up here Tsu!”

“I agree with them, get yourself together,” Tsuyu ribbited, voice crackling over the speakers. She was at home with her siblings.

Todoroki chimed in. “I think you have a very good chance, he mentioned you every time we traded manga.” He was currently shopping, using a credit card that Tenya was going to pretend wasn’t Endeavor’s.

Manga. He had tried reading one once, but he much preferred novels. The thing was, the main male character never dated another boy. He sighed.

“Guys, shut up,” he said, resigned. The others shared a look. “And stop looking at each other like that.” He walked out of Midoriya’s dorm room, heading back to his own.

He supposed he wasn’t normal. As much as he tried to be perfect, he knew a little too much about the rules. He was overbearing and a bit of a nerd and too much of a goody two-shoes. And maybe perfect was different for everyone. So he set out to make a plan.

It started with talking to Sero. That was certainly a task. It took way too many attempts but he succeeded in greeting Sero one night. Sero seemed shocked but slowly warmed up to him. God did he make Tenya nervous. Their conversations slowly started going like they did before, but they weren’t quite the same. Sero seemed to be holding back, and Tenya was determined to break down those walls once more.

It started with talking to him outside of those late night conversations. All of his classmates were quite surprised. They hadn’t known of this not-so-unlikely friendship. Sero’s friends were a little suspicious, but shrugged it off. He could catch Bakugou glaring at him sometimes, but he paid it no mind. He had other problems to deal with.

Those problems being his friends.

They were insufferable. They teased him every day and he was getting sick of it. Unluckily he was attached to them, so yelling at them wasn’t an option. He enlisted their help, instead. Their ideas were pretty bad, though.

dekusquad chat !!

Iida Tenya: I don’t know what to do.

kero: tell him how you feel

astro-kirby: YEAH!! tell him u coward!

Iida Tenya: No.

IcyHot: So u admit u like him,

Iida Tenya: I suppose.

astro-kirby: GASP! omg! hes growing up :(

Iida Tenya: I’m older than you.

Deku!!: he has a point lol

astro-kirby: >:O take it back !!!!

Deku!!: i agree with ochako-chan tho confess

Iida Tenya: You first.

IcyHot: Deku likes some1?/??/ ??

Deku!!: STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!!!

Tenya sighed. They were not helpful at all.

kero: just get to know him

kero: im sure he likes you :)

He smiled. At least one of them had good advice.

kero: so ask him out you coward

He groaned. He changed his mind, none of them were helpful. But maybe...

Iida Tenya: I’ll do it eventually. Maybe this week.

He shut his phone, ignoring the overload of notifications coming from it. He drifted off to sleep.

The next weekend was one he would never forget.

It started with shouting. A lot of shouting. And also a knock on his door. He slowly pulled himself out of bed, before fully waking up and opening the door.

“What.” He was annoyed, it was the weekend, and even “perfect” kids needed to sleep in. That was until he saw who was at the door. He didn’t even register that the shouting had stopped as soon as his door had opened.

“Um... surprise?” Sero was standing at his door with a small bouquet of flowers.

“Uh- what are you doing here?”

“He’s asking you out, dumbass,” shouted Bakugou from the hallway.

“Shut UP, Kacchan!” Midoriya exclaimed.

Tenya looked at them, unimpressed. He was unaware of the audience until now. They soon dispersed, though he supposed they were just hiding down the hallway. He could hear their whispers.

“What’s this all about?” he asked.

Sero laughed, nervous. “Doyouwannagooutonadatetoday?”

Tenya blinked.

Once.

Twice.

“Sorry, what?”

Sero took a deep breath.

“Do you want to go out on a date? Today?”

Tenya could feel the smile splitting his face.

“Yes.”