"You should take a break, Iida-kun." Uraraka Ochako greeted the other, a little bean sprout in her arms.
"A student should get their work done in a timely manner." Iida Tenya replied. "It is also good practice for when we have paperwork."
Uraraka sighed. "But you've been working on Yamada-sensei's essay for hours! Just for a while?"
"Uraraka-san, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, if I do not finish this essay, I may run into a block of some kind."
"Iida, what's a 'ssay?" Izuku interrupted. Iida glanced up at him, then refocused on typing his essay on the English novel "Lord of the Flies".
"It's an analysis of the main focus of the paper, Izuku." Iida replied.
"Oh, 'kay." Izuku still looked confused.
"Come on, Iida. Just five minutes? Izuku hasn't gone outside the dorms all day." Uraraka tried.
"...I suppose taking a short break couldn't do much harm. After all, it is good to take short pauses between working."
Uraraka gave him a deadpan expression. "That's what I've been saying."
"Outside!" Izuku yelled. A couple heads (Sero and Kaminari) turned away from Bakugou's tutoring session across the room, prompting Bakugou to let off a small explosion to regain their attention.
"Yes, Izuku, we're going outside." Uraraka soothed. "We're going right now."
Iida closed his laptop and stood. The trio walked to the front door, and Iida opened it to let Uraraka through with Izuku.
It was a pleasant sunny day, with only a few clouds present. It was a nice change from the storms they had a few days ago.
Izuku squirmed, wanting to be put down. Uraraka obliged, setting him down on the grass. Uraraka and Iida sat down on the steps leading up to the door. Izuku giggled, picking up a leaf and showing it to Uraraka.
"That's very pretty, Izuku." Uraraka smiled at him. Izuku squealed and handed the leaf to Uraraka.
Izuku pushed himself to his feet and took off out into the lawn. Iida made to go after him, but Izuku stopped and picked up another leaf and brought it back to Iida this time.
"Oh, thank you, Izuku." Iida said, smiling also. Izuku looked overjoyed. He took off again.
Soon enough, Uraraka and Iida had too many leaves to hold. Uraraka took her leaves and carefully began weaving them together in the beginnings of something similar to a flower crown.
The first time Uraraka tried to take some of Iida's leaves for the crown, Izuku grabbed her wrist as tightly as a three-year-old could manage.
"Those are Iida's leafs," Izuku said seriously.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Uraraka gave Iida an exaggerated pouty face. "Can you ever forgive me?" she asked.
"I don't know," Iida said, feigning contemplation. "He's right, these are my 'leafs'. Precious gifts from Izuku. I cannot let anyone take them."
"Does Ura want more leaves?" Izuku asked, still clinging to Uraraka's wrist.
"I do," she replied solemnly.
"I'll find you some!" Izuku declared. "But don't take Iida's leaves while I'm gone."
"I won't," she promised. Izuku ran off, picking up as many leaves as he could.
"Please let me use your leaves." she muttered once Izuku was out of earshot. "Izuku won't be able to get enough before the sun goes down."
"Of course, Uraraka-san. But don't let Izuku see."
So Uraraka kept taking leaves when Izuku wasn't looking. Soon enough, Uraraka had finished the leaf crown, complete with a few pinecones and acorns Izuku had found, and a dandelion he had pulled from the ground. Uraraka place her creation proudly on Izuku's head.
"Aww," Uraraka cooed.
"Well, this is just too precious to process." Iida said.
Uraraka pulled out her phone and snapped a couple pictures. She sent one to Aizawa and reminded herself to send one to the 1-A group chat later.
"Send me that," Iida said quietly. Uraraka giggled and did so.
"Can I see?" Izuku said, trying to see by pushing himself up on Uraraka's leg. She tilted her phone and showed Izuku.
"Ochako-san?" a voice from the front door called.
"Tsuyu-chan!" Ochako turned to look at her. "Look at Izuku!"
"He's cute, kero." Tsuyu said. "Do you remember where you put the stapler? I need it for the homework All Might-sensei gave us."
"I thought I put it on the kitchen counter?" Uraraka frowned.
"You did, but it's not there anymore. Kero." Tsuyu nodded.
"Hold on, I'll help you look. Can you watch Izuku, Iida-kun?"
"Of course." Iida replied. "Good luck."
"Thank you!"
Uraraka disappeared into the dorm.
Izuku suddenly whined. Iida turned to look. Izuku was trying to pull the leaf crown off.
"Hold on, Izuku-kun." Iida carefully lifted Uraraka's creation off of Izuku. "Was it itchy?"
"Yeah," Izuku nodded firmly. "It's pretty, though."
"It is," Iida confirmed. "Uraraka-san did a good job on it."
"I'm going to get more leaves!" Izuku suddenly decided. He ran off again.
Iida watched him for a few minutes until there was a sudden sound drew his attention away. Before he could figure out what it was, he heard Izuku gasp softly. He whipped his head back around.
Izuku was carefully picking something up off the ground. Iida let out a little sigh of relief. He was afraid Izuku had fallen or something.
Iida turned back to see what the noise from before. Ojiro waved at him from the dumpster, and Iida waved back. The sound must have been the dumpster lid slamming shut. There really was no quiet way to close those things.
There was a tugging on his pants leg. Iida turned back to see Izuku with one hand clutching his leg and the other holding something.
Once Izuku saw he had Iida's attention, he cupped the thing in both hands and held them out to show Iida. It was a caterpillar.
"Buwfwy!" Izuku proudly proclaimed. Iida smiled softly at Izuku's mistake.
"Eventually, Izuku. Why don't you put it down? We have to go inside, anyway. It is getting dark, and I must finish my essay."
Izuku nodded and walked slowly back to the tree he had found the caterpillar at. Iida could see the care the bean sprout placed the caterpillar down. Then Izuku straightened up and ran back to Iida. Iida picked up the three-year-old and went inside.
Iida carried Izuku to the couch, then sat down, setting Izuku next to him. He then picked up his laptop and opened up, going back to his essay.
Izuku did not run off, as Iida was expecting. Instead, Izuku was captivated by the glowing screen of the laptop and the rapid appearance of characters he did not recognize. Izuku slowly crawled onto Iida's lap. Iida let him.
The next time Iida looked at the clock, it was 9:31 pm and Izuku had passed out over two hours ago. Iida slowly shut his laptop and shifted Izuku into a position where he could be carried. Then, carefully, he stood and walked to the room next to Aizawa-sensei's room on the second floor on the girl's side (it was completely unoccupied. Aizawa claimed it so he could, and quote "keep a better eye on the problem children" and "give Izuku a place to sleep overnight". So he lived there now) and laid Izuku in his bed. He made sure the nightlight was on, then quietly shut the door behind him.
He pulled out his phone and opened the 1-A group chat.
Sanic: Izuku is in bed, so no more loud noises
There were a few immediate replies, but Iida ignored them. They would be, as per usual, requests for photographs.
Iida retrieved his laptop and retreated to his room. He would clean up his essay in the morning.
Chapter inspired by a Tumblr post featuring Sanders Sides. It was the butterfly scene, but with Virgil and Logan instead. I believe the artist is called fangirltothefullest on Tumblr.
Anyway, another longish chapter! Whoo-hoo!
Appreciate you all! ~BlackPolaris