first american title | tenya iida

twenty-one

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iida's pov

"Iida-kun! Will you walk me home?" I shake my head, turning to look at who yelled out to me. There she stood, round-faced and sweet. She skipped towards me with a wide smile. "Ready to go home?" she asks, her voice filled with a bubbly lightness to it. 

I smile back at her. "Of course!" I reply confidently. 

I can feel her hand wrap around mine as we walk down the sidewalk. We talk about class, the upcoming test in Aizawa Sensei's class. It's a peaceful walk, one that we've done a million times before. Before we could get home though, the car swerves. 

The ambulances arrive.

She's in the hospital. 

The blame is put on me, by the one person I thought I could trust- her.

And then I woke up from my dream. I shot up straight in bed and looked around at my surroundings. Lydia stirred in the bed next to me, "Tenya?" she mumbled. "You okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, it was a bad dream that's all," I reply and get up from the bed, needing to go to the bathroom and fix myself up.

I flick the light on and turn the water tap on. The cool water feels good against my skin as I splash it against my face. It wasn't your fault, I remind myself. You did nothing wrong, Tenya.

It still haunts me.

Even now.

How it was my fault, her injury was my inability to protect her. Half the class shunned me because of it. I could have done something. It should have been me. Ochaco didn't deserve to have to take those damages. 

"Stop," I say aloud, quiet and cool. It's necessary for me to self-talk through intense emotions sometimes, because who gives better advice than me? Hearing it aloud does the trick, though. I take a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, and picks my head up from it's hanging state. 

Isn't scary how trauma can affect us some twenty years after the event? How even when I'm married it still affects my romantic affairs? How more than a handful of nights sleep can be ruined by one split second?

I hate it.

 Before I crawl back into bed with Lydia I turn to bathroom light off. When I get into bed, she wraps her delicate arms around my waist. "You wanna talk about it?" She asks, almost slurring her words with how tired she is.

"It wasn't that bad of a dream so no, good night Star."

"Goodnight big boy."

The next morning I go to work and push the memory out of my head. It doesn't get the right to ruin my day. 

The day goes smoothly, surprisingly. After work, I run to the store quickly to pick up flowers for Lydia. I thought I'd get her some to make up for how late I've been recently. I get her bluebell flowers, they remind me of her. As I stroll through the store, I come across the makeup section. It wouldn't harm to get her a small gift, either. I know she likes blood red lipstick, so I pick her up one that looks decent. Regardless of if she'll ever use the product, I know she'd appreciate seeing me make an effort. 

Lydia gets off work later than me, so I clean the house for when she comes home. The flowers go in a simple vase on the kitchen counter. I take off my formal suit and trade it in for a pair of shorts and a basic shirt. While I wait for Lydia to get home, I do work on my computer. Five is approaching quickly, which means Lydia will be home any minute. Briefly, I go to the bathroom and toss the lipstick on the counter. I'll give it to her when she gets home. 

The front door opens, "Tenya can you help me!" she calls out.

I rush out to her side and lift the box up with her. "What's in here?" I ask. 

"Office supplies and paperwork. Jennifer said if I organized them she'd put an extra fifty on my paycheck, and since we wanna get a house I thought any money would help!" she explains. 

I can't help but chuckle. "Well have fun organizing those things."

"You wanna help me out?" She asks. 

I shrug. "Why not."

We lay on the living room carpet while we watch The Great Gatsby, which by the way, is one of my favorite movies. We sort for two hours, at the least. 

 Lydia rolls over and sighs. "I've barely gone Christmas shopping and Christmas is literally in two weeks."

I laugh. "Same. I've ordered you a few things but not a whole lot. Plus we have to wrap it all."

She rolls her eyes and groans. "That's so much work. Can we just set the gifts under the tree unwrapped?" 

I shrug. "Sounds fine to me, to be honest. I was never one for traditional Christmases anyways," I reply. 

Slowly, she crawls on top of my body and lays down, her entire body weight on mine. It didn't bother me all too much because she was very light. Lydia was a petite woman, slender and short. I loved her shape and thin waist. She looked like a flower in the wind, and I adored it. 

She begins singing, "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream," while laying on my chest. I feel like I had told her a thousand times before, but it never ceased to amaze me how beautiful her voice was. How naturally she could sing. I felt so lucky to love her, and so incredibly lucky to be able to hear her sing. 

"Tenya you should sing," she says.

I shake my head. "You have the voice of one thousand angels, I don't think I compare in any way."

Her lower lip protrudes out, giving me puppy dog eyes and a pout. "Please," she pleads.

"Only if you start and sing with me."

And so she does. She chooses to sing Moon River. She sounds so sweet on it, and I join. I still think she's exceptional, but I don't sound half bad. 

When we're done she laughs and kisses me. "I told you! You have such a good voice!"

My cheeks go red. "Thank you, Star, but I-I still think you're a gorgeous singer."

She kisses me again and giggles. "I love you!" She exclaims. "I love you so so so much!"

"I love you so much!" I reply. 

As the night goes on we watch more movies and cuddle. We talk about each other's day. Yknow, couple stuff. It's a peaceful day. Lydia talking to me keeps my dream from the night before far away. I can't possibly think of anything bad when Lydia's right in front of me. When my lovely wife is right there, so in love with me. 

I've found the cure, and she's right in front of me. I couldn't be more glad about it either. 

~*~