Wedding Bells

Family comes first

Eight years ago...
UA's school canteen

"So... Uraraka... are you sure I can't convince you to..."

"It's okay, Iida" Uraraka smiled. "Hey, I heard you and Hatsume are going together! I"m glad, it looks like a plan."

"Yeah, a plan..." Iida sighed like a drama queen. He started to wonder if it would have been a good idea to be Hatsume's date at such a formal occasion, but after her inventions helped his brother walk again, it was impossible for him not to be nicer to the peculiar student. "I just hope she doesn't test one of her creations there. But... what I mean is... we are all going to be there. This is for our graduation after all."

"Oh, you know I'm not very good at dancing" Uraraka's joy was always like an armor to face everyday, but they had been friends for long, and Iida wouldn't be fooled. "And it's not like I have a date."

"Uraraka..." Iida said with all the care in the world. "I know last year's dance was a huge disappointment to you, but that shouldn't let you down tonight. Everyone will be happy to see you there."

"Mina has been trying to persuade me the whole week..." Uraraka sighed. Her friends were worried about her, and as much as she tried to keep it cool, after three years, every member of Class A must know who was on her mind those days. However, that wouldn't stop Neito Monoma from mocking them on the fact everyone from Class B had a date while everyone from Class A didn't. "But I'm fine, Iida. I just... need to move on."

Their common best friend had gone to America with All Might to continue his personal hero training as soon as the finals ended, and it was impossible for them not to miss Deku. Uraraka knew he would become the best version of himself and he had all the skills to be popular with girls as amazing as Melissa Shield. As for Iida, he could sometimes seem like a human chronometer, but he wasn't made of stone, and he hated to see a friend suffering in silence.

"Sorry, Iida" Uraraka muttered. "I think you should get going. You have a date for which you must prepare. And you are the Class President, so you'll be busy this evening."

"This is true..." Iida was going to have a really busy day indeed, and he wasn't going to be very useful to Uraraka at that moment. "Listen, Uraraka. We are your friends; if you really don't want to go to the prom, we shall respect it and won't try to bother you. We'll talk later, okay?" he said before getting up.

"See you, Iida! Have fun tonight!" Uraraka managed to flash her unique smile and make it look as real as the feelings she had behind it.

As soon as Iida disappeared from her sight, he was satisfied to check on his phone the notification he had been all day expecting:

"I'M BACK! I know All Might is going to kill me for this, but I have already landed in Tokyo! I'll be there soon enough to get ready!!!"

Iida wasted no time. Mina and the girls may have failed to convince Uraraka to go to the end of course's dance, but it didn't matter. Now their surprise special guest had returned to Japan, the operation every member of Class A, with the sole exception of one, was aware of would continue to develop as planned.

Another good notification: Momo had already created the dress. She happily claimed to feel like Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

"Sorry for lying to you, Uraraka" Iida thought in both guilt and delight. "I don't know if this will make us good or bad friends. But we are not going to respect your decision of missing the prom..."

*****************

July 10th, 3:40 a.m.
Tokyo centre.

The week had been exhausting until then, and duty was calling at a criminally early time, even for Tenya Iida. But the emergency couldn't be clearer: street violence had concentrated around the regular prison, where criminals, supported by villains and rioters, were taking control of the place.