Chapter Text
Iida was a very structural guy. He was well aware of this.
People often told him that he was too uptight sometimes. Iida politely disagrees. He just likes to keep things… put together. Organized. Maybe he was uptight, but who would blame him for just wanting to keep everyone on the right track?
Class was nearly over. The clock on the wall made a satisfying ‘tick’ every second it moved. Some people might find that noise annoying. Iida found it calming. It was a reminder that time was passing on days that Iida had difficulty staying focused (which was not very often). The knowledge that time was passing at the same pace it always does was simply comforting. Iida would listen to the ‘tick, tick, tick’ of the clock hands for a moment and it cleared his mind, making it easier to get back to the task at hand.
Today was one of those days. Aizawa had passed out in the front of the room in his sleeping bag. There was a quiet hum throughout the class as students would talk while still trying to not wake Aizawa.
Instead of talking to his friends, Iida continued to finish his work. While it was none of his business what his classmates did, he found it rather irresponsible to speak to each other during class. This was a period of time to be learning, not speaking!
If you wanted to talk to your friends, Iida thought that it was only appropriate to do it outside of school hours or during lunch. There is no need to interrupt classes with meaningless small talk.
The clock continued to make those small noises, ‘tick, tick, tick.’ Iida finished his classwork and neatly placed it on Aizawa’s desk. Hopefully his teacher would notice it was even there.
Iida returned to his desk, and sat quietly until the bell rang. Although he felt guilty for it, Iida had to cancel his plans with his friends after school. Midoriya, Uraraka, Tsu, and Todoroki had invited him to have a picnic. While Iida would have loved to go, something came up.
That “something” was definitely not a “something” he could easily refuse. His friends had been surprisingly understanding, even asking Iida to stop apologizing so aggressively.
Iida made his way to his dorm, and was surprised to see that Bakugou was already outside his door.
“Bakugou! I didn’t think you’d be here so soon!”
Bakugou looked absolutely scandalized. “Keep your fuckin’ volume down! We don’t need people knowing I’m here, dipshit.” Bakugou looked away nervously, clearly waiting for Iida to just open his door and let them both inside. So Iida did just that.
The door was shut gently so as not to draw attention to Iida’s dorm (and it's impolite to slam a door).
“Well Bakugou, what do you want to do?” Iida asked as Bakugou carelessly sat down on Iida’s bed. How inconsiderate! Iida spent time making his bed so neat and tidy.
“What's it fucking look like? I thought I was here so we could study. Damn.” Bakugou raised an eyebrow, as if it was obvious that's why he's here.
Iida thought about it and he supposes it was obvious since Bakugou had asked to come study.
They studied together in a peaceful silence.
Eventually it came time for them to make their way downstairs as discreetly as possible for dinner. Iida went down first, and Bakugou followed several minutes later. Surely that couldn't have been suspicious!
Iida sat down with his friends. “Iida, how come you and Kacchan came downstairs together?” Midoriya asked. Oh lord. This was unexpected.
“What do you mean? I’m quite sure I arrived before Bakugou did.” Iida tried to not act oddly. He and Bakugou had been studying together for some time now, but Bakugou was very persistent about not wanting anybody to know about their… arrangement. Bakugou was beginning to struggle in a class (which he found incredibly embarrassing) and in exchange Bakugou would spend time with Iida. As friends.
Bakugou was known for hating every living thing he came across, so the fact he would willingly hang out with Iida was considered a deep dark secret.
Iida didn't quite understand it, but he didn't think too much of it.
“That's rather interesting Iida, because I do think that you and Bakugou came downstairs at suspiciously close times.” Todoroki nodded, agreeing with Midoriya.
“It's just a simple coincidence! Nothing more!” Iida stated, and everyone backed off. For the night.
The next evening Bakugou had come over to study again.
This time Iida tried to leave earlier. Maybe this was a better cover up! Nevermind.
Bakugou came down the elevator only one minute after Iida! It was almost like he wanted people to know they were secret friends.
Yet again, Iida's friends confronted him.
It wasn't like he could just keep lying! That would be unfair to his friends.
“Fine, I’ll tell you all, but you mustn't let anyone else know.” Iida said and made sure all his friends nodded in agreement. Uraraka seemed particularly excited about this.
“Bakugou and I are…” he added a pause without even thinking, “we are friends. Bakugou doesn't want anyone to know.” Iida hoped for a positive reaction.
“WHAT? I thought you were dating!” Uraraka exclaimed, eyes wide.
“Who's dating who?” None other than Bakugou Katsuki himself happened to be walking by their table at that moment. Good grief.
Iida shoved his face onto the table. This couldn't get much worse.
“UH HAHAHA we all thought Todoroki had been dating someone! Haha, yeah! It turns out he isn't so it's fine you can leave!” Midoriya covered it quickly, although it wasn't very believable. Sure Todoroki wasn't very public about it, but it seemed to be common knowledge by now that he and Sero were boyfriends.
Bakugou just raised a skeptical eyebrow and went back to where his definitely not friends sat.
Iida also definitely didn't watch Bakugou walk away.
“Um… Iida, I think your nose is bleeding, ribbit.” Tsu spoke up, pointing to the blood running down Iida's mouth onto the table.
He must've hid his face on the table too aggressively
Iida excused himself and went to the nearest bathroom to clean up the blood.
So far, being friends with Bakugou has done nothing but add unexpected things into Iida's life.
Iida was beginning to believe he enjoyed life more when it was unpredictable.