Work Text:
“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!”
“Urgh,” groaned a groggy Izuku, and he flopped out of bed and turned off his alarm. His training had gone later than expected and he had barely made it back to bed before midnight struck. He put on his school uniform and hobbled out of his dorm room.
His two friends, Ochako and Iida, were waiting to greet him.
“Good morning Deku, are you ready for class today?”
“Yeah,” yawned Izuku, “I should be awake once we get there.”
Iida then spoke up. “I’m afraid to tell you this Midoriya but you are not prepared for class, your outfit is incomplete.”
Deku looked down, he was wearing his shoes, pants, and shirt. He had to squint for a few seconds, but he then realized Iida was right, he had forgotten to put on his tie.
“Oh, good eye,” said Ochako, “I would’ve never noticed that.”
“Yeah, me either, thanks Iida, you’re a lifesaver.” Mr. Aizawa was very strict about dress code.
“That’s what friends are for.”
And once Izuku had put his tie on, the trio made their way to class.
—----
The day continued to be relatively uneventful from there. The group did their usual hero training and listened to lectures. However, lunch is where problems would begin to arise.
As Iida and Izuku went to take their table, they noticed Ochako looking rather glum.
“Is everything alright Uraraka?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t have time to pack my lunch today. But don’t worry, I’m not super hungry, I can just wait to eat once class ends.”
“Hmph, that’s not very healthy, our bodies need food in order to operate at peak efficiency. Here you can eat this.” And Iida pulled out a few small bags from his backpack.
“Iida, are you sure? I don’t want to take away your food if you need it. You’ve got to eat too, you know.”
“It’s no worry at all Uraraka, I always make sure to carry some snacks on me in case they are needed..”
Ochako beamed, “Aw, thanks Iida you’re the best!”
Iida smiled. “That’s what friends are for.”
——-
As the trio continued to eat lunch, the topic of class came up.
“So what do you think Mr. Aizawa will have us do when we get back?”
“What do you mean,” asked Iida. From the way he was looking at Deku, you would think that Deku had suddenly grown two heads. “Did you forget, we have that quiz today first thing after lunch ends.”
Deku went pale, and put his head on the table. “Crap, I completely forgot!” He wasn’t sure what to do. He could go to his dorm and get his books, but with the amount of time it would take him to get there, and then get to class afterwards, he’d barely have enough time to study. And he certainly would not have time to eat lunch either.
Deku’s moment of agony was interrupted by the sound of Iida pulling out his backpack and dropping some books and paper on the table. “Luckily I made sure to bring my notes, how about we do a review while we eat.”
“Oh thank you Iida, you’re a lifesaver!”
“That’s what friends are for.”
And the trio spent the rest of their lunch period studying.
—-------
“Ok class, take out your pens. I’m going to begin passing out the test.” And Mr. Aizawa began to make his way around the classroom.
As he placed the paper on Ochako’s desk, she beamed. She was going to ace this test with all the studying they had done during lunch. As she pressed her pen to the paper, no ink came out. That was odd, Ochako shook it, and still no ink. That could only mean, there was no ink left!
Panic began to set in for Ochako, that was the only pen she had on her and she was not sure what to do. She could ask Momo to make her a pen, but she was on the other side of the classroom and Aizawa was nearly done passing out the test. She could try asking Kouji or Rikidou, but they both seemed to already be locked in on their tests and she did not want to make them lose focus. She wasn’t sure what to do.
As she continued to worry, Iida whispered to her, “What seems to be the matter, Ochako?”
“My pen’s out of ink”
Iida raised an eyebrow, “That’s your only one?”
“I know, I know, I should’ve brought an extra, but pens are expensive, okay!”
“Well here, you can have one of mine,” and Iida pulled out an identical pen to the one that he was currently using.
“Thank you so much, I’ll be sure to return it after this exam is over!”
“Keep it, I have plenty.”
“R-really? Thanks Iida, you’re great!”
Iida smiled, “That’s what friends are for.”
—----
Deku and Ochako were worried. Iida had been absent from class for the past few days and neither one had any idea where he was. It wasn’t like him to be absent for such a long period of time. As the two made their way to the common area, there was a surprise waiting for them, it was Iida!
“Oh hey Iida, there you are!”
“Yeah, it’s great to see you again, we were starting to get worried.”
“Apologies for making you two worried, I just went on…vacation.”
They were glad to see that nothing awful had happened to him, but still something seemed off, he was walking with a rather noticeable limp and looked to be in pain.
“Iida are you alright?”
Iida let out a wheeze as he limped towards the two, “N-never felt better”.
“Are you sure? You seem to not be doing so well.”
“Yeah, it might be best if you stay in the dorm for the day, we can fill you in on what you miss in class.”
“No, no, I’ll be fine, we can head to class. I’m just…still a bit tired, I think I slept wrong. Besides, I've already missed enough classes.”
“Well then…”
“Let’s go…I guess…”
Both Deku and Ochako exchanged a look as the trio left the dorms.
—-
As they walked to class, Deku and Ochako began catching Iida up on everything he had missed.
“Oh yeah, Mr. Aizawa passed our tests back from last week. I ended up getting a 70. It's not great, but I absolutely would not have done as well if we didn’t do that review during lunch.”
“And I wouldn’t have been able to do it at all if you didn’t lend me your pen Iida.”
…
The two turned to face him, he was currently stopped and rubbing his leg in pain
“Iida, are you doing alright?”
“O-oh, I’m fine. Just had…something stuck in my shoe is all. Let’s continue to class.”
Deku and Ochako once again shared a look, they were worried about Iida. All throughout the rest of the day it was the same. His mind seemed to be elsewhere and he also seemed to have a rather horrible limp. But the two didn’t want to pry, if he said he was fine, he was fine…right?
—--
“Iida, are you sure you’re fine?”
“Yeah, if anything is troubling you, you can tell us.”
“You know that right.”
“Yes, and I’m telling you two, I’ve never felt better,” and Iida did his best to dash ahead of them.
He was now focused on assuring his friends he was fine, so focused that he failed to notice the low-hanging branch that was in front of him. Iida’s leg caught the branch and he came tumbling down. As Deku and Ochako raced over to help him up they noticed something. The branch had also torn his pant leg, revealing a very awful-looking gash.
“I-Iida your l-leg!”
“What happened!?”
Iida sighed, there was no point in trying to keep it from the two of them now. “I got it while out on patrol a few days ago. I was just able to begin walking again last night. It still hurts, but I’ve been trying to take some pain medication to ease it, but it does not seem to be as effective as I hoped…”
This was met with cries of “What!” and “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I suppose I didn't want to inconvenience either of you.”
“Hey now, it’s no problem at all.” Using her powers, Ochako helped to get Iida off the ground,
“Yeah, you’d do the same for us,” smiled Deku as he gave him his shoulder to stabilize and rest on.
Iida let out a weary groan, “t-thank you, both of you.”
“No worries,” smiled Deku
“After all,” added Ochako
“That’s what friends are for!”