Ace of Hearts - Tenya I. x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Three

       Mina had invited you over for a little hangout after classes had finished, and that led to where you sat sinking into Mina's bed, while she sat on her wheely chair.

      Your conversations had spanned from how you were feeling and how Kirishima was, to the shenanigans 2A pulled in training earlier today. Even though you couldn't participate —damn you Aizawa— you still watched from the sidelines cheering your friends that you betted on against Present Mic.

      Present Mic oversaw the sidelines while Aizawa helped work on his students' form on the matts. To pass the time, Present mic and you placed bets on who was going to win or who was going to mess up first.

           But Mina had switched the conversation from today's earlier training to more personal conversations about your classmates. And she craftily focused on you and on a four eyed rule stickler.She swirled around slowly, rolling a tootsie pop in her mouth. "Do you want to know something Y/N?" She asked.

     You hummed innocently, assuming that she was going to ask something about Iida and his kickboxing, which you were just discussing. "Sure."

      She giggled as she twisted the lollipop in her mouth, eyes glittering with excitement. "Iida likes you." 

      You stared at her in disbelief. "Bullshit." You denied with a fervent shake of your head. "If anything we're just classmates. Friends at the most. At most," you pondered a thought. What if? You shoved that out of your mind. It created a dangerous pond that you didn't want to swim in, let alone dip your toes in experimentally.. He doesn't because you both used to hate each other. Used to. "At most we're civil classmates who can hold a conversation. Friends."

     You stared at her in disbelief. "Bullshit." You denied with a fervent shake of your head. "If anything we're just classmates."

     "Please," Mina laughed like the know-it-all-villain. "He was elated coming into the common area after you both sparred. He looked like he saw stars."

     "He saw stars because I kicked his head one too many times." Excuses, excuses.

      "Y/N," Mina stared at you, her usually bright demeanor now blanketed by seriousness, "Iida, without a doubt in my mind, 100% likes you. And not just as a friend."

     "You're not lying?" You pleaded, hoping she was.

     "Nope." She swirled her chair and laughed at you. "How are you going to weasel your way out of this?"

      You let out a mixture of desperate, shaky laugh and a pitiful whine. "I don't know Mina." Your hands rushed to your face in embarrassment. "Was this whole crush thing looking me right in the face the whole time?"

     "The whole time." Mina said.

      "The whole time?" Your eyes bugged out as you yelled. "The whole time?!"

     Mina cackled. "Did-did you know –— was it obvious for you?" You asked her, but in all honesty, you didn't want to hear the answer.

     "His feelings for you are like a glass closest to the rest of us, but for you it's a brick wall." She cackled again as the color in your face drained a little more and you flung yourself onto your back, dumbfounded by your own idiocy. "And now that brick wall has slammed into your face."

      "I — how?" You were speechless. "Shoot examples at me because I still don't believe it."

      "He smiles like an idiot when he sees you, he blushes secretly, he — Bakugou knows!" You rolled your hand with each example, encouraging your pink haired friend to continue, but you jolted up from the bed at the last few words.

      "Bakugou know's?" You looked like a headless chicken. "Like he's confirmed it?"

      "Bakugou had to sit next to the drooling sob at the training camp." Mina stood up to grab your shoulders and shake them, trying to make you see the situation clearly. "Iida was practically oozing his aching, crushing feelings all over. Bakugou swore he could see it radiating off of him; it was that bad."

      You ran shaky fingers through your hair. "That bad?" You sat back down on Mina's bed, feeling like a ghost out of their body. "Am I that blind Mina."

     "Just a tad bit blind." She pinched her index and thumbs together till there was barely any room in between and squeaked, "This much."

     "I still can't believe it."

     "Believe it girl. 'Cause it's not going to go away anytime soon."

      "My luck is fantastic right now." You groaned out the complaint. "What do I do Mina?"

       You sought advice, wanting to know what your next steps were. "I don't know." She threw her head back in exasperation, arms falling to her sides.

     "How do I approach this? I could barely talk to a rock about my feelings if I tried."

      "That's your problem now."

      "I don't want Iida to be my fucking problem." You grumbled. 

****

      You lay in your bed going over what Mina had said earlier. Shock was your initial reaction. It was followed by a flurry of emotions such as denial, questioning, comic, and an overwhelming repetition of the word like.

      Me? That word rang in your head. To you it was unfathomable, but maybe that was the fault of your lack of attention to detail. Ironic, seeing as though your quirk enhances your vision, and yet, you didn't see something that was obvious.

     Recovery Girl's eye examinations, you concluded, were bullshit. How else could you be blind? Mina said it was obvious through his gestures, but you didn't see it.

       You were fine with your current relationship status with Iida. The friend status was fine with you. It was beyond fine. You didn't even like him back anyway. Well, you liked him, even with his uptight quirks; but you didn't like him the way he apparently did you.

      You slapped your face. It was hesitant and gentle, but you needed to snap the sense back into you. You couldn't walk into him tomorrow and make it obvious you were aware of this one-sided crush. You didn't want to make it awkward.

       This desperation to make it not awkward was confusing. You knew — were sure that it was because you both could talk, for the most part, without clashing or banter. Well, there was some playful banter.

     You figured that was why when tomorrow rolled around, you would act the same, not revealing this knowledge to Iida, or anyone. Preserving a collected demeanor and a civil friendship with Iida was your decision.

       But how could he like me? Me? That thought still echoed in your head.