A Ray of Hope for Tenya Iida

Gone

(TW: swearing, negative emotions, mentions of death, trauma, and the ever present angst of most of these characters because for some reason I can't write a story without everyone getting some main character vibes lmao.)

Mina's pov: I was just sitting in class, waiting for it to begin, when I noticed Iida wasn't here, unlike usual. He'd usually be earlier than anyone should be, bossing everyone around and being all stressy. I wondered if it was because we made him watch Star Wars with us or because of something else. Denki looked particularly strange today, too... he looked like he knew something, and he wasn't talking with everyone else like usual. He wasn't smiling or bouncing, and didn't seem too happy. I thought about talking to Denki about it, but after a bit, Iida walked in. 

"Hello everyone! I'm incredibly sorry for being late!" He took a bow to us while using his typical hand gestures. "I was visiting someone and had to stay the night with them due to my own poor planning. I'll be more careful in the future! Now, does anyone need anything?" He looked even more uptight than usual, his shoulders were held tensely and his eyebrows were furrowed together farther than I thought to be possible. He was either angry with us, angry with himself, or stressed about something. There were a few mutters around the classroom, it wasn't a secret he'd been acting strange, almost everyone'd noticed by now. Sero was the first to speak up.

"Hey man, you know you don't have to do anything for us if you can't do it right now, right? It's ok to take a break..." He smiled at him with concern. 

"I know, I'm completely aware that it's alright to take breaks! I've actually been resting for much longer than I've intended to, I've been taking it easy! Don't worry, I'm alright! I'm glad you care though, Sero, it's very heroic of you! And very commendable!" Iida smiled a small, unsure-looking smile at him and looked around the room. "So, does anyone have any request for something?" Uraraka looked at him.

"Class is about to start, Iida, why don't you just sit in your seat while we wait for Aizawa-sensei to get here?" Iida sighed and nodded before taking his spot in class. He started writing something down, it wasn't easily seen, but the writing was a little messy, which wasn't normal either. He'd been acting strange all day today and some of yesterday, I needed to know what was going on. When Aizawa-sensei walked in, he also looked at Iida with concern, like he knew something we didn't. He started teaching almost immediately since everyone was already here, and the bell went off a little while after he started. It was a good thing everyone was in here today, too, because he was going over some pretty important things. Aoyama kept staring at Iida, though, and it made me a bit concerned. Why was he staring at him like that? He looked like he knew something no one else did, it was a little creepy looking since he was always smiling... maybe I was just being prejudiced, though, he was a great guy, after all! 

"Alright, problem children, now that the lesson's done, you can do whatever you want. Iida, come talk with me outside." He sounded serious, and Iida nodded solemnly, picking at his hands under his desk. I never knew he fidgeted, that was definitely new. Why was Iida being the only kid who Aizawa-sensei needed to talk to? He definitely didn't do something wrong, his grades were on point, and he was a model student, along with being class rep, so why was something like a conversation being handled like he was in trouble? I didn't understand a thing, but it really did look like Denki knew something. I walked over to him, he was looking at his desk while talking with Kirishima a bit, tapping his hand on his lap. 

"Hey Denki! You good?" I said, keeping it simple for now.

"Oh. Yeah, Mina! I'm doing great, thanks for asking!" He smiled. 

"Fuckin liar," Bakugou muttered, "Dunce-face's been thinking about something all day and won't spill shit."

"Heyyy, Kachaaaaan, chillllll, everything's fiiiiine!" He drew out his words to sound more relaxed, but it sounded even more stressed to me. 

"Denki, can we talk in the hallway? Away from Aizawa-sensei and Iida's convo, obviously." I figured confronting him was the best thing to do.

"No thanks, Mina, I'm good here! Thanks though!" He smiled and continued his conversation with Kirishima, it was something about anime and how we could all be a show and not know it. Aoyama stared into a random spot into the room as they talked about that, saying things quietly. I was NOT going to get into that. 

Iida's pov: I didn't really want to be in class that day, I had a lot going on, after all, but some things just had to be done if you wanted to be successful in life, right? People kept staring at me and whispering about me and how "strange" I'd been compared to usual. I was acting differently the entire time and I hadn't even noticed. Even Bakugou'd joined in a bit of the conversation, saying things like "I'd noticed before all of you extras, get with the program, dumbasses." It wasn't that obvious something was wrong, was it? I'd done my best to hide it, and now people thought I was acting strange. Maybe I was acting differently than I usually would when I was masking? How would I even go about changing a behavior like masking my emotions? I'd have to do more research on how I normally behaved. After class ended, Aizawa sensei said he needed to talk with me outside. It was clear this was a last minute thing, so it was recent news he likely got from a text or something he thought about that he hadn't thought of before. Otherwise, he would've asked to talk to me before class. That way, it wouldn't disturb my normal after-class activities. He knew I always helped with students who didn't understand the material as soon as class ended. I noticed other people kept talking about things, and Mina got up to talk with Denki. Speaking of Denki, I really needed to set things completely right with him, he'd been distant with me since last night. It was a little concerning that he wasn't willing to talk with me. Either way, I needed to talk with Aizawa sensei first, then handle other personal matters. 

He was waiting for me in the hallway when I got there, and it looked like he wasn't amused with my very unusual tardiness to show up outside with him. I could hear commotion in the classroom as he talked. "Problem child, I'm not sure how to say this..." He sighed.

"What do you need to say, Aizawa sensei? Is something wrong? Am I not doing enough assignments to pass well enough?" He looked at me with concern. 

"No, problem child, it's about your brother-"

"What about my brother?! Is he alright?! He was fine this morning, I checked and everything! I need to go see hi-"

"Problem child, this morning, a little while after we started class, he had... complications... and the team tried to save him. He'd seemed like he was in the clear before, so they weren't as prepared as the should've been. He's... he's gone, problem child, I'm sorry. Going to see him now wouldn't do anything."

"That's a funny joke, alright, take care, Aizawa sensei! I'm going back to class to help everyone with their assignments, and after school, I'll let Tensei know how funny you are today! You didn't seem like one to joke, to be honest! Bye now!" I walked back into the classroom, holding back any kind of emotional reaction. I couldn't believe he could say something like that to me.