Chapter Text
“Iida!” Aizawa called. “I need to see you,” he said, as the rest of the class streamed out of the classroom. “And you too, Sero. Stay outside the class and I’ll call you in when I need you.” Sero raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. What could he and Iida possibly have in common that Aizawa needed to talk to them at the same time?
“I need you to tutor Sero,” Aizawa asked. Iida’s nose wrinkled. “Sero? You mean Sero Hanta? The world’s biggest class clown?” Aizawa nodded. “The one and only. Listen, this isn’t a request. I believe I said I need you to tutor him. You’re the smartest in the class save Momo.”
“Then ask Momo!”
“I don’t want to repeat myself, Iida.”
Iida wiped his glasses on his shirt. “Fine. I’ll tutor him. But I won’t promise results.” Aizawa rose from his desk. “That’s all I ask,” he replied.
“And then he asked me to tutor Sero! Out of everyone in the class he could’ve asked me to tutor!” Iida’s hands were everywhere as he ranted. “Well, Aizawa wouldn’t have asked you to tutor him if he didn’t believe you could do it. Right?” Uraraka asked. Deku nodded. “It can’t be that bad. Why do you hate him, anyway?”
“I don’t! I just dislike people without a sense of discipline. He’s completely unfocused and barely manages to scrape by in his classes despite the minimal amount of work he puts in.” Deku snickered. “Sure sounds like you hate him.” Tsuyu put a hand on Iida’s shoulder. “You’ll do great,” she said, her voice all scratchy and deep from her choir class. Uraraka nearly swooned at the sound. “Calm yourself Uraraka, we don’t want you fainting on us,” Todoroki said, scaring a nearby freshman as he seemed to have come out of nowhere. Deku snickered. “Yeah, Uraraka.” Uraraka rolled her eyes, a pink rising in her cheeks. “Shut up,” she pronounced.
“Iida?” Sero asked, the name all too familiar to him. “Are you sure you don’t mean Momo? Todoroki? Midoriya? Hell, I’d have Mineta as my teacher!” Aizawa sighed. “First off, Iida will be your tutor, not your teacher. And how lucky he is to only be your tutor. And what is it with you two? You guys don’t even talk to each other.”
“Exactly!” Sero exclaimed. “Why him? There’s no one else who can be my tutor? I can get my grades up! I promise.” Aizawa sighed again. “This isn’t the first time you’ve promised that to me. Iida will be your tutor, and that’s final.” Sero huffed. “Fine. Alright.”
“Out of all the people the man could’ve chosen..” he moaned under his breath as he walked out of the classroom to where his friends were waiting. “What did he need you for?” Mina asked. “I have to get tutoring. And guess who the tutor is? Iida!” he said with fake enthusiasm. “Ouch,” Kirishima winced. “Well, maybe you can warm up to him instead of bitching to us about him.” Bakugo muttered. “I heard that! And I don’t bitch about him.”
“Yes, you do,” Jirou replied, rolling her eyes. “All the damn time,”
“Well, it’s not my fault he’s so smart and, and, perfect all the time. Fucking showoff.” Denki laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s just that.” Sero whipped his head a perfect 90 degrees to look at Denki. “What is that supposed to mean?!” Denki shrugged. “You just sound a little obsessed with the guy.”
“A little is an understatement,” Bakugo remarked.
As Iida and his friends walked out of the school, so did Sero and his friends. Tsuyu waved goodbye to Uraraka, as she slipped away to babysit. “Don’t be obvious, but there goes your tutoree,” Deku whispered not so quietly. Uraraka raised an eyebrow. “You’re making it sound like Iida likes him or something. And he doesn’t. Right?” Iida shook his head as an agreement. “Of course not!” he replied indignantly. “And he’s my tutee. Not my tutoree.” Deku yawned. “Yup, got that.” Todoroki pointed in Sero’s direction. “Looks like someone wants to talk to you,” he noted. Sero walked briskly over to where Iida was standing. “Can I talk to you?” Iida narrowed his eyes. “Sure.” The two were near eye to eye, but Iida had a few centimeters on Sero “In private,” he said, nodding at Deku, Todoroki and Uraraka.
“Fine. Make it fast.” Sero fought the urge to sock Iida as he looked at the ground before making eye contact again. “I don’t want you to be my tutor. Get me out of this.” Iida rolled his eyes. “What, you think I agreed to do this willingly? Maybe if you weren’t such a slacker, this wouldn’t be happening. But yes, let’s blame the tutor!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Sero scoffed. “Whatever. When do you want to do… this?” he asked, waving his hand around. “Do Mondays and Wednesdays after school work for you?” Sero’s eyes widened. “Tomorrow? Already?” Iida turned and began to walk away. “The sooner we start the sooner we can end this,” he said over his shoulder.
As Sero walked back over to his group, he sighed. “Guess I’m really doing this then,” he muttered. Mina had a big smile on her face as Sero approached. “So how’d it go, lover boy? He reject you?” Sero glared. “He said we’re starting tomorrow. Tomorrow!” Denki faked a frown. “Oh, how sad. You have to spend time with your attractive rival. Boo hoo.” Even Jirou smiled. Sero took a deep breath. “I guess I do,” he said under his breath. “Y’all, I think he just admitted Iida is attractive.” Jirou chimed. Sero couldn’t even find a proper response to that.
Iida and Deku went one way, while Todoroki and Uraraka went the other. Iida groaned. “This is going to be a pain in the ass. Why did I agree to do this again?” Deku patted Iida on the back. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure Aizawa chose you for a reason. He knows you can get Sero on the right track.” Iida stopped in his tracks when he heard this. “If by the right track he means to cause a train wreck!” He took a deep breath. “Sorry, I just… I’m so stressed out about this,” Iida ran his fingers through his hair as talked. “I better go home. So I can plan.” Deku sighed. “Are you sure?” Iida nodded without turning back. “Yes, I’m sure,”
When Iida arrived at home, he was greeted by his mother. “I’m making banana bread. It’ll be out in ten minutes. Would you like a piece?” Iida shook his head no. “I’m fine. I just need to study.” His mother’s smile faded but she maintained her happy facade. “Alright!” she called up after him as he went up the stairs.
Iida hung his backpack up on the hook in his closet and sat down at his desk. As he spun in his chair, he thought carefully about what he would start with. He and Sero were in Aizawa’s history class together, so he knew to start there. But where in history should he start? It was a world history class, after all. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d noticed Sero struggling since the beginning of the class. He’d seen his bad grades on tests a number of times. If Iida had to start at the beginning of the course material, he’d do it. To get this over with. Aizawa wouldn’t let Iida get away with a bad tutoring job. And he’d never forgive himself if he did.
As Sero took a shower, he thought about the events from earlier today. He thought about Iida. How averse he seemed to be tutoring him. It was almost funny how the one thing the two of them agreed on was not wanting to do this. Sero was still thinking as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He dried his hair meticulously with a towel. These sessions were definitely going to be interesting, he thought.
Iida flopped into his bed after a long string of hours dedicated to planning out these tutoring sessions. His glasses were on the nightstand, and he was squinting at his watch as he tried to tell what time it was. Just then, his mother came in. “Iida!” his mother chirped. “I know you said you didn’t want any… but I saved you some banana bread!” Iida sat up quickly, causing a sudden headache to come. “Thank you, mama,” he managed to say, waiting for her to leave before collapsing on his bed a second time. He quickly finished off the cake, wiping his fingers off with a napkin before dozing off. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
When Sero woke up, he shivered. He’d had another nightmare. He shook his head and began to get ready for school, running around his room frantically, his eyes on the clock. Shit, shit, shit, he thought. “Out of all the days to wake up late,” he groaned. Iida would kill him if he didn’t show to their first session. He dressed in all black, messing with his hair a few times before grabbing his backpack off of the floor and rushing out of his room. “Sero!” his papa called. “Would you like a breakfast taco on your way?” Sero stopped in his tracks. “Yes, please!” His dad handed him a taco wrapped in aluminum foil and paper towel. Sero nodded his head as a thank you and then headed out.
As Iida stared out the classroom window, he wondered why Sero wasn’t here. Could he be ditching class? Or was it something else altogether? The school bell rang, and Aizawa stood up to teach. A few seconds later, Sero ran in, taking the seat behind Iida’s. The door closed with a slam behind him. “Welcome, Sero,” Aizawa intoned. “Do you have a reason for your tardiness? Perhaps a late pass?” Sero scowled. “I just woke up late. I thought I could make it,” Aizawa shook his head.
Iida found himself immersed in the lecture. The Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s assassination… it was all so interesting to see how history played out. And how things could’ve been if certain events didn’t happen. Sero obviously didn’t feel the same way, as he was fast asleep. Iida kicked Sero’s desk, which woke him up with a start. “Sero,” Aizawa called. “Here…” he replied, still drowsy. “We’re in the middle of a lecture, Sero. I’ll give you an easy one: who was the president of the Confederate States during the Civil War Era?” Sero knew the answer. But as it was, he couldn’t remember it if he tried. A pressing silence fell over the room, all waiting for him to answer the question. “Umm…” he began. Then Sero heard a voice so faint he could barely pick up on what he was saying. “Jefferson Davis,” Iida murmured. “Jefferson Davis!” Sero near shouted.
The bell then rung to signal the start of the next class. “Correct,” Aizawa said over the noise of students packing up to leave. As Sero was about to exit the classroom, he heard Aizawa. “Don’t make the mistake of being late to my class again, Sero,” he nodded. “Yes, sir. I won’t.”
Iida found himself fidgeting in the rest of his classes. He couldn’t focus in pre-calc for being so worried about tutoring. The rest of the day passed by in a blur. And soon the final bell rang. Midoriya and Uraraka gave him a thumbs-up before they left, wishing him good luck. Iida packed up his things, and headed to the library.
Iida then realized he had never said where to meet when he was talking to Sero. He walked around the library, finally finding Sero in a small enclave in the back. He was balancing a pencil on his finger. Iida took a sharp breath, trying not to get distracted. When Sero had come into history class, he hadn’t paid attention to what he looked like. But now he did. His hair, fluffy and well styled like a lion’s mane, nearly down to his shoulders. His all black ensemble worked incredibly well on him. A black shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, halfway tucked into his fitted black jeans. Brand new white converse that seemed to pale in comparison to his light skin. And freckles. Who knew Sero had freckles?
Iida shook his head. What was he doing? He had never considered Sero attractive. These tutoring sessions must be taking something out of him already.
“You near ready?” Sero asked. “Yes,” Iida replied. “Let’s get started.”