A Ray of Hope for Tenya Iida

Glass

(TW: swearing, violence, racing thoughts, injury, blood)

Iida's pov: I was a horrible class representative! How could I treat my fellow classmates in such a way? It's not right for me to act that way, I should be helping, not bringing their spirit down! I'd already tested my luck as well by forgetting to close my door while ranting out loud. I almost could swear I saw someone looking at me through the crack of my door a little while ago, so I quickly closed it and got quiet for a while, just in case. I should've continued studying and cleaning, now I'd been sitting there for a while, doing nothing and hoping no one heard me. Going completely quiet was more suspicious, wasn't it? I'm not a quiet person, so... I probably should change that, I shouldn't be a disturbance to the learning environment, and loud noises are some of the most disturbing possible, right? I couldn't disturb the others, they'd be upset with me for ruining their chances in class! Maybe the only reason I was ahead in the class was because I was so distracting that no one was able to focus but me. Was everything I did loud? Was I just as bad as any random delinquent who'd disturb a class? I was bothering the learning environment, I was being a problem. I shouldn't be a problem. Could I fix this? I should've been breathing. Why wasn't I breathing? I wasn't holding my breath, but I wasn't breathing, was I? No,  I was breathing, it was just fast. Did I eat something wrong, or was I sick? Was I dying? I felt dizzy, this wasn't normal.

I covered my mouth and nose to try to quiet down, some people might still have been trying to study and I couldn't disturb them like I'd been before. What would my parents say if they knew I was a disturbance to the classroom? They'd be so disappointed in me! And Tensei, what would he think of me? I was named after him, Ingenium, and I was already disgracing that name and dragging it through the dirt, metaphorically speaking. This was too much pressure. I couldn't do it, I couldn't be a hero in a classroom full of people so much better than me! I was only doing as well as I was because everyone else was being disturbed by me. I had to start breathing right. What would fix the problem? Did I need to sit down? Study maybe? Focus on anything but this, it would go away, right? I walked over to the desk shakily and tried to focus on the words, they were blurry and I couldn't read them. My glasses, where were they? I looked over near where I was before and saw them crushed to pieces. I had to clean it up, but when I went to pick up the pieces, I nearly fell over. I still couldn't breathe right. I had glass shards in my knees, it hurt. It was unpleasant, but it focused me. Why? Why was I focusing on that right at this moment? I bent over to clean up my mess and accidentally pushed the shards a bit deeper. I could breathe right again, but I was still a bit shaky. I was cleaning and glass was digging into my knees, I was present in the moment. 

I finished cleaning it up and threw the pieces away, then pulled the remaining pieces out of my knees and threw them away. They were slightly bloody, but less than someone might expect from something like this. I still had to stop whatever bleeding there might be on my legs, my pants were starting to dot with little red spots. There were little cuts in the pants too, so it wasn't the best idea to have kept cleaning with glass in them. I'd have to get a new pair without bothering my parents or find a way to fix this pair. Uraraka needs money, right? I could spare some of my money to get a lesson on sewing, right? She ripped an outfit recently and needed to fix it anyways, it wouldn't be too hard to ask her with some help. There was a knock at my door. Who needed me at this time? If it was late enough for a movie, it was already past dinner, right? I walked over to the door and took a breath before asking who was there.

"It's Denki, can I come in?" He sounded unsure of his actions, that usually means distress, distress usually means danger of some form. I opened the door. 

"Ah, hello Denki! Is there anything I can do for you?" I eyed his every movement, it was important if I was to figure out what was wrong. He eyed my legs for a moment before asking something suddenly. 

"Did you... do that to yourself?"

"What? Do what?"

"The cuts, did you hurt yourself?" He sounded so concerned, all for me? Why was he concerned that much over a little injury?

"Oh, yes, but don't worry, I was able to clean up most of the mess, now I just need to clean up my knees."

"Dude, I didn't know you felt like that, I gotta tell Aizawa!" He nearly ran out of the room before I stopped him.

"Denki, what's wrong? I just accidentally put my knees on broken glass after dropping my glasses, what's the issue?" He stopped and sighed in relief before punching me right in the face. What?

"Dude, don't scare me like that! I was gonna apologize and then I thought you hurt yourself because of what I said! You're such a bitch!" He stormed out of the room and slammed my door. I didn't mean to scare him, I just didn't understand what he meant by that. Was I supposed to understand it? Did people hurt themselves on purpose so often that it's supposed to be assumed that when someone asks if you hurt yourself that they mean on purpose? Did that statement even make sense? Why did he hit me? Why was I a "bitch"? He was going to apologize to me? Why would he apologize to me? He didn't do anything wrong, did he? Why was he angry with me though? I didn't mean to scare him, I was just communicating something. Tears welled up in my eyes as I heard another knock at my door. No, no, no, no, no, no! Not now, don't come in!

"Hello?" I answered, it's the only polite way.

"Dinner's done, extra, you'd usually be the first to come out, dumbass." It was Bakugou. He never goes into my room, so it was fine. 

"I ended up getting wrapped up in a very interesting study session on-" I looked at my book, it was on English, "English, my apologies. I'll be there in a while, don't worry about making my plate. Thank you for reminding me, Bakugou!"

"Whatever, extra." He stormed off. I had some time to myself. I could let it out, so that's exactly what I did.