The Ocean: BNHA x OP!Reader

Teacher's Lounges and Hatred

"Now that everyone's decided on their hero names, we can go back to talking about your upcoming internships." Aizawa finally crawled out of his yellow sleeping bag to take the podium back over. "They'll last for one week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who are on the board will be choosing from among your offers. Everyone else will have a different list." I narrowed my eyes slightly. There was no way it was just going to be that easy.

Well, I was right. It wasn't that easy.

After all of the lists of possible internships had been passed out, I was left staring at an almost entirely blank sheet of paper with a single name printed right in the middle.

I didn't want to go. I didn't want to be forced to spend a week there. I wanted to say no. But I doubt I'd be allowed to. There was a reason there was only one name I was allowed to choose from.

"Would you like to come turn in your choice with me?" I jumped and whipped my head to the side as I was knocked back to my senses by the familiar voice.

Nope. There was no way. I was just imagining things. I bet I fell asleep in class again, and now I'm just having a ridiculously life-like dream. That was the only explanation. After all, there was simply no way in all of heaven and hell that Tenya Iida had just started a conversation with me.

"My apologies if I was interrupting you," Iida frowned slightly from where he was standing beside me. I could do nothing but stare at my classmate in pure, unadulterated shock. And it looked like I wasn't the only one, either. Everyone else in the class was looking on at the interaction with the exact same shock I was feeling.  Who could blame them, though?  The one person in this room whose hatred of me could probably outweigh everybody else's combined actually just apologized to me for something as trivial as interrupting my thoughts.

"Y-you weren't interrupting," my voice came out as a squeak.

"Then would you mind please accompanying me to the teacher's lounge?" Iida asked tentatively, his eyes flickering over my face.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I could feel my inner self screaming at me to just say no — to tell him to go hell for how he'd been acting — but something was off about how he'd approached me. There was no sneering or irrational anger in his expression. If anything, he seemed a little nervous.

After a few moments, I stood quietly from my seat and grabbed my bag, nodding up at Iida. Immediately, I was encompassed by that familiar feeling of multiple people staring at me at once and shrunk inwards on myself slightly. I'm not sure if he realized or he was just trying to keep me in check or what exactly, but I couldn't help but notice as Iida took a small step forward to shield me from the many pairs of eyes searing holes into my back.

I don't know what I was expecting for this walk, but it certainly wasn't for Iida to strike up a conversation with me right out of the gate.

"I was hoping to thank you," he said softly. "I should also apologize for how I acted back in Hosu and how I have been acting up until now. You saved my brother. Thank you for putting aside my actions for his sake." I blinked up at him in shock. Based on how he'd responded at the hospital, I had honestly believed he'd be against me until the very end.

I didn't want to forgive him. Not yet, at least. After all, he was one of the biggest reasons that I spent every day navigating across paper-thin ice as I attempted to find some way to live peacefully alongside a bunch hero students who wholeheartedly believed I was evil. But this did provide an opportunity to confirm something I had been incredibly stressed about ever since I officially decided that I would be going to Hosu on the day of the Sports Festival. I'd had an inkling when I saw the hero name he'd chosen, but there was no way I could be sure until I asked him directly.