Chapter Text
It was a warm, sunny day at U.A. and Classes 1-A and 1-B had been given permission to take a break in the pool after training. Iida wasn’t sure if he should go, but Uraraka had managed to convince him, and he had a lot of fun!
Despite this, he now finds himself trying not to regret saying yes when he arrives at the bench where he left his glasses resting on top of a piece of paper reading, “These are Iida’s glasses. Please do not move them.”
Or at least, this is where he had left them. As he approached the bench, Iida could see that the paper was missing-whether someone had thrown it away, or if it had been blown off by a gust of wind, the end result was the same: his paper was gone. Rushing to the bench and feeling around, peering down at the blurry surface, he groaned to himself when his efforts were in vain.
Uraraka caught up to him. “Hey, Iida-san. What’s wrong?”
Iida turned. “My glasses have gone missing!”
”They have? Where’d you leave them?”
”Right here, along with a piece of paper so that no one would touch them!”
Uraraka looked around and grabbed something from the ground in a dark corner behind the bench. “…you mean like this paper right here?”
Iida snatched the paper from her hands and held it about a foot from his face. “Yes! This is the paper, alright. But doesn’t that mean the glasses should be somewhere around here, too?”
”Maybe…can you see well enough to look for them?”
Iida was tempted to send her an annoyed look, but he knew she had a point. He would usually be able to make out his glasses if he was within ten feet of them, and he could even say he saw them relatively well from within five. However, in this case, he was looking for thin, gray frames against the gray backdrop of the cement. Not exactly the best of circumstances.
”In this particular instance, I’m afraid it would be…difficult for me to spot them. The glasses are of a color that blends easily with the concrete walking area.”
”Got it,” Uraraka chirped. “Okay! Let’s ask everyone else. Hey guys!” She turned around before Iida had a chance to respond, “Iida-san is looking for his glasses. Anybody seen ‘em?”
There were several no’s and a few shrugs, but one person seemed suspiciously quiet. Even so, neither of them really thought much of it, and the oddity didn’t really register. The two of them continued looking around for the glasses, Iida crouching and scanning close along the ground while Uraraka got up to check places where Iida couldn’t, such as in the pool itself.
Several minutes later, when almost everyone else had left the area and the few stragglers were making their way out, Kirishima slowly walked over, clutching something in his hand, which he held protectively against his shirt.
”Hey,” he mumbled. “You’re… looking for your glasses…right?”
Iida stood up. “That’s correct. Do you know anything? Did you see what happened to them?”
Kirishima winced. “Uh…well…you see…the thing is…”
Iida frowned and made a motion to push his glasses up his nose, then remembered that they weren’t there and awkwardly transitioned the movement into running a hand through his hair instead. “It would be much appreciated if you could get to the main purpose of your sentence instead of floundering for what to say.”
”Right! Right, you’re right, I’ll just…um…”
Iida raised an eyebrow.
”I’m sorry!” Kirishima blurted.
Iida blinked. Huh? Sorry for what? “What for?”
Kirishima gulped, and held out his hand. There in his palm were Iida’s glasses-or at least, what was left of them. The frames were bent and twisted, with one of the end pieces snapped clean off. The right lens was splintered into a dozen pieces, barely holding its shape, while the left was so scratched up as to render it nearly useless despite being technically intact.
Iida could only stare. He’d never seen his glasses this banged up before. Uraraka came over to see what was going on, and gasped when she saw the mangled remains of metal and glass.
The three of them stood there in silence for a moment, then Kirishima spoke again. “I’m sorry, Iida-san. I was hanging out with Tetsutetsu-san, and we were wrestling and using our quirks and-I guess I just wasn’t paying attention. By the time I realized something fell off the bench, I’d already stepped on them. Didn’t even see the paper ‘til afterwards. I’m so sorry.”
Iida stared at him for a long moment, debating whether this was worth getting worked up about. He had been trying to do better, lately, at thinking about things before automatically reacting to them, but never had he suspected that he would be gaining practice from a situation like this.
To his own relief, common sense won out. “Don’t worry about it.”
Kirishima blinked. “Huh?”
” I said, don’t worry about it.”
”But I-you can’t just!-I crushed your glasses, Iida-san! At least let me make it up to you-“
”Kirishima-san. It’s alright. It is in case of this very sort of happenstance that I keep extra pairs in my room. I won’t say I’m happy about my glasses being broken, but I should have paid better attention to my surroundings and taken action accordingly. My expectations were based on times when I have gone swimming in private places where I didn’t need to worry about a lot of people moving around, and I mistakenly assumed that the current environment would remain similar enough for me to follow similar rules. So in a way, it is as much my fault that these glasses were broken as it is yours.”
Kirishima stared at him. “Oh. Uh. Thanks, I guess…you’re really not mad?”
”I am…truly not mad.”
He relaxed. “Good. That’s a relief. Thanks, man.”
”Though perhaps you can take this as a lesson in paying closer attention to your surroundings.”
Kirishima grinned. “I’ll be sure to do that, bro. For sure.” He paused. “You good to make it back to the dorms on your own? Need any help getting around?”
Iida’s prior annoyance with Uraraka flared back into being. “I’ll be perfectly fine! It’s not as if I’m blind- it’s simply a matter of detail! I’ll have you know I can navigate without my glasses perfectly well!”
Kirishima chuckled nervously. “Great, that’s great, uh. Sorry Iida-san, I didn’t mean to offend you. I guess I’ll just go, then. See you around!”
He was gone without another word, leaving Iida and Uraraka staring after him. Uraraka glanced at Iida and shrugged. He shrugged back, and the two of them made their way towards the locker rooms.
Note to self, Iida thought. When going swimming in public places, it may be best to leave your glasses in your locker itself, despite the inconvenience of being required to go back to get them.