Butterfly [ ON HIATUS/MIDORIYA ]

004. iida, tell me.

★

"MY friend! It's so good to see you."

I hadn't talked face to face with Iida in a while. When he wasn't busy, I was busy, and vice versa. He took the Ingenium title with pride and quickly fell within the top twenty heroes. His agency was booming, at the hands of his smarts, and he was an excellent teacher, making him a top choice for many UA internships.

I shook his hand, patting his elbow. "Hosu city keeping you busy?"

"You can say that again," he said. "Have you heard from Uraraka at all? She's making quite the name for herself on the smaller islands."

Uraraka. We were high-school crushes, but as life took us separate ways, nothing really became of our romance. That didn't mean she wasn't a very close friend, because she was. Every now again I'd receive a text from her. I was pretty sure she was dating someone.

I saw their social media posts all of the time. They looked so happy and it really warmed my heart. I just wanted the best for her.

"Yeah! She texted me a couple of weeks ago. It's so crazy how far all of us have come," I said, pushing open the door to the restaurant. It was a smaller place without a lot of foot traffic, but it was amazing.

It was hard going anywhere nowadays, I was pretty recognizable. "How's things with Aimi?"

His face lit up, taking a seat at our table. Iida always had a hard time with girls. He was quite intimidating and yelled a lot when he was nervous. That never really worked out in his favor, until he met a five star chef that yelled back.

"I kind of wanted to talk to you about that too. You called at the perfect time!" He said, pulling out a small box that was empty. He pushed up his glasses, and I knew I was in for it. "Now, Aimi and I have been dating for four years I finally decided it is time for me to propose. She told me she likes rectangular—"

He was blabbering on about rings and ring sizes, bands, everything under the sun. Every little detail. I tried to pay attention but his robotic words spilled out all over the table. I had such a hard time following him. He was spiraling into a nervous spiel, his arms stiffening at his side.

"Iida—"

He stopped talking, his face glowing a bright red.

"Whatever you choose, she will like it. I know that fact for sure."

He exhaled, putting it away. "I apologize, Midoriya. For the first time in a long time, I don't know what the answer is."

I laughed, scanning the menu even though I already knew what I wanted. "Sometimes you don't need to know the answer, you've just got to do it."

It was hard to believe we were closer to thirty than twenty. I was turning twenty-six this year, even though it didn't seem like a lot, it was just difficult to see people moving on. I never really stopped to take in living, I was always on to the next villain, saving the next civilian.

"Thanks, Midoriya. I can always count on you for something wise and encouraging," Iida said, his glasses glinting in the dim light. The waitstaff had already come around and taken our orders, excited to meet a friend of mine.