Iida always enjoyed self-study classes. Though some might simply call them 'lazy teaching tactics', they could be a wonderful opportunity for any student to learn something paradigm-shifting and expand upon their knowledge of the world in a way that perhaps a teacher could not perfectly convey in a lecture.

Donning their P.E. uniforms, the students of class 1-A spread throughout the field just outside of Ground Beta in hopes of self-training due to Aizawa-sensei's and All Might's absences for an important teachers conference. Though the topic being discussed wasn't mentioned, Iida trusted that it must be important for their teachers to choose to leave their rambunctious classmates to their own.

He knew it was to be expected, but he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of irritation at the state that the fields were already in after a mere ten minutes. A large portion of the landscape was already coated in ice, which led to several other students, both within their class and out, slipping and falling, making it as much of a walking hazard as all of the Kirishima-shaped holes in the ground that Iida himself kept tripping over. A majority of the grass was already singed, some areas simply scorched to ash and others including large impact craters. Some of the equipment was broken from being hit too hard, while other things were torn to shreds.

In one area near the track field in particular, almost everything, whether it be plant life or human invention, had nearly corroded into nothing but acidic sludge, while everything still standing was haphazardly covered in tape. Despite the absolute mess that had been made, Iida was secretly thankful that the infamous group, whom his classmates chose to refer to as the 'Bakusquad', had decided to spread themselves out for today's exercise rather than congregate together as they normally would and cause more unnecessary problems. He would never say it to their faces, more so out of respect than any sort of fear, but he was honestly surprised that he hadn't yet been permanently bedridden from the number of migraines he received from their antics.

Well, to be fair to Kirishima in particular, he wasn't a bothersome person in general, but he never helped anything when any of the other four were involved (with the exception of making Bakugou calmer just by existing, to which Iida was eternally grateful for). They were all still walking trouble magnets, though.

Iida was temporarily distracted from his musings by the reappearances of the robots that they'd been permitted to activate for their self-training and watched as Midoriya and Ojiro immediately obliterated two of them with a single blow from each. Two more behind them were instantly wiped out by Dark Shadow as Tokoyami zipped past them. Off in the distance, Todoroki froze a dozen of them at once, stretching his arms as if it was nothing to him, while the only robot to escape the icy blast was suddenly body-slammed by Kirishima jumping from a great height, though from the look on Kirishima's face, the robot's destruction had been unintentional.

Off where he'd been watching before, Iida noticed that Sero and Ashido were both making quick work of their robot opponents, Ashido laughing gleefully as the metal husk finally gave way to the powerful acid eating away at its legs and fell to the ground.

"And that's thirteen!" Ashido cheered, turning to Sero with a blinding grin. "How many did you get, huh?"

As if on queue, another robot came barreling towards them from near the entrance of Ground Beta, Sero immediately whirling around and tangling its limbs in a mess of tape before sending it to the ground with a resounding crash.

Sero grinned back smugly. "Fourteen."

Ashido pouted dramatically, stomping her foot and puffing out her cheeks in a childish display while Sero's grin only grew. Iida could only shake his head at their antics as he readjusted his glasses, exasperated that they would play around like this when there were still three more robots approaching them from behind.

Of course, it ended up not mattering in this case, since it was suddenly as if the robot closest to them had been shot in the face by a bazooka.

The duo jumped at the sudden explosion behind them as an orange and black blur shot past them, grenade gauntlet swinging perfectly through the second robot's side like a knife cutting through butter in a fiery display, not even giving the third a chance to even try and attack as their aggressor suddenly crashed into it feet first, immediately incapacitating it in one downward swing and a powerful explosion. The robot toppled over in a heap.

Still standing on top of the robot as the smoke cleared, Bakugou casually brushed himself off before stepping back onto the grass. Ashido happily skipped over, her movements screaming enthusiasm, while Sero just shook his head and wandered over.

"That was so cool, Blasty!" Ashido exclaimed loudly. "You totally one-shotted three of them in, like, two seconds! How did you even do that!?"

"It's called talent, Horns." Bakugou responded, Ashido's earlier pout returning in full force.

Sero scoffed. "Always so encouraging. What would we ever do without you?"

"You sassing me, Soy Sauce?"

"Whaaaat? I would never~."

Bakugou bared his teeth dangerously, Sero only snorting in response while Ashido let out another hearty cackle. Rolling his eyes, Bakugou sauntered by them, vaguely motioning towards the entrance of Ground Beta where more robots were starting to appear. "Anyway, there's more of those fucks in Ground Beta and I was just heading that way when I saw you dipshits standing around twiddling your thumbs-"

"Dude, no-"

"And I thought it would be more interesting if you came along and we made it a competition. The one with the most kills wins."

"Hey, hold on now." Ashido cut in. "Do mine ears deceiveth me, or is Blasty, the Blasty Mcsplodes, O great and powerful Lord Explosion Murder himself, asking for us mere mortal idiots to grace him with our presence-"

"You keep that up, Raccoon Eyes, and I'm fucking out of here."

The two simultaneously zipped their mouths shut and threw them away. Bakugou huffed. "Good. Now come on. Class ends in twenty minutes and I want to take down as many of these fuckers as possible."

"A lot of fuck today." Ashido mused as the three of them sprinted off and disappeared behind Ground Beta's walls. Iida was tempted to follow them, just to make sure that damage was kept at a minimum, but he ultimately decided that it would be rude of him to spy on them and that he should have a little more faith in his comrades. Thus, he soon turned back to his own training alongside his other classmates for the rest of the class. It frustrated him that he didn't seem to be getting much faster overall, but he had to remind himself to be patient. He would improve in due time.

It would be approximately eighteen minutes later that Bakugou would reappear, shooting right through the entrance of Ground Beta at breakneck speeds with a spray of metal debris and smoke trailing him in what was probably one of his sloppier landings. Iida couldn't help but wince at the near miss, as he's had his fair share of poor landings at high speed in his lifetime and it never ended well. Barely avoiding injury, the explosion quirk user quickly recovered, catching himself with his right appendages and expertly reorienting himself to face backward as he dug his feet into the ground until he came to a full stop, dust billowing up from the ground behind him.

After staring back at Ground Beta for a beat, the ash-blonde growled, swatting at the dust swirling through the air as he stomped his way back to the gateway. Crashing could be heard as more smoke darkened the air above Ground Beta. "You idiots still in there? What's taking so long?"

"Excuse you!" Ashido could be heard shouting. "The goal was to take out as many as we could!"

"Yeah, man! It wasn't a race!" Sero followed, vaulting a broken robot over the walls just as Ashido stumbled through the entrance and allowed herself to tip over and faceplant into the ground. Sero approached them soon after. The look on Bakugou's face was the furthest thing from satisfaction.

Class ended shortly thereafter, and the students of class 1-A made their way to the locker rooms under Iida's watchful eye. With a sigh, Iida entered the boy's locker room last, neatly putting his equipment away while his rowdier classmates chatted around him.

"Today was nice, don't you think?" Midoriya said somewhere to his right, a soft, tired smile adorning his face.

"It was." Todoroki agreed nearby. "I don't think I've quite mastered my fire yet, though. I tried using it at the same scale as my ice and it got a little out of hand. I think I might have almost killed Asui and Hagakure."

"This is why I say you need to be more careful!" Iida announced, chopping at the air for emphasis. "Gaining control over your quirk is fairly important, but you mustn't train it so much that you put yourself or your teammates at risk!"

"I suppose."

"Todoroki, I am being serious!"

"So am I."

"Anyway!" Midoriya interrupted. "I've been meaning to ask. You know about that new hero museum that they're opening this weekend?"

The corners of Todoroki's lips slightly curved upwards. "The one that's specifically just All Might or the one for everyone else?"

"Todoroki..." Midoriya pouted. "The one that's not. The All Might museum opens next week. Duh!"

"Right... Duh."

Midoriya couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, so Uraraka and I really wanted to go to the grand opening and we were wondering if you guys would like to come with us! Unfortunately, Asui-"

"Tsu." Todoroki corrected in her stead.

"Er-, right. Tsu said that she couldn't make it because she's going with her family somewhere, so it would just be us. Would you guys like to go?"

Todoroki's face remained neutral, but his shoulders slightly drooped. "Sadly, I cannot. I have yet to finish Midnight's project for history class, so I'll be confining myself to my room in order to complete it. Otherwise, I'd love to go."

"Todoroki!" Iida shouted, causing both other boys to slightly flinch from the volume. "I thought you said it was nearly finished!"

"It was, but then I procrastinated."

Iida was about to shout again, but stopped himself and simply sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "Very well. I'm glad that you are being responsible and choosing to finish it on time, even if you are currently behind. I admire that."

Repositioning his glasses, Iida chopped in Midoriya's direction. "I, on the other hand, am finished with all of my work and would be thrilled to accompany you and Uraraka to the new hero museum!"

Midoriya's eyes lit up like stars. "That's great! I'll let her know right away! And don't worry, Todoroki. We already told As- Tsu that we'd take lots of pictures for her, so we'll just have to take twice as many!"

"Not if photography is prohibited!" Iida yelled as Midoriya practically frolicked out of the locker room. Todoroki simply snorted as he made his leave as well. Once again rubbing at his face, Iida shut his locker and went to follow.

"Dude, seriously. It was all just self-training, and we were doing great, if I do say so myself."

"That's not the fucking point, Tape Face."

Iida peered behind him to see Bakugou and Sero near the back, the latter still putting his suit away. Sero's face wasn't visible from Iida's point of view, but he could see Bakugou's profile just fine and, though he didn't appear as angry as he normally is, he still looked rather frustrated, brows furrowed and mouth in a deep frown. The taller boy held his helmet in his hands, fiddling around with it.

"Dude, you are so extra, sometimes. You know that?"

"Fucking hell, it's not that fucking hard." Bakugou huffed. "Just figure out the weak points and time that shit. Once you get that, one-shotting villains at high speed in a chain is easy. Then you can take on multiple enemies at once, even while in a high-speed chase."

Sero sighed, his shoulders sagging as he set his helmet inside his locker and slammed it shut. "Look, man. I get it. You're gonna push us to keep up with you and we appreciate it. We really do, but most of us can't just get things like you do."

"That doesn't make it impossible, you fucking idiot. Yours and Raccoon Eyes's quirks are literally perfect for this sort of thing."

Despite the impossibility of it, Bakugou's frown deepened even further as Sero repositioned his backpack and headed towards the exit. "Maybe. Well, see you around, Blasty."

"Hey, wait a minute! You doubting my judgment, asshole!?" The blonde yelled as Sero slipped through the entrance, Bakugou stomping after him and completely ignoring Iida's presence. With the nth sigh that Iida had released that day, he followed after them, finding that they were now joined by Ashido, who was just leaving the girls' locker room. "I said wait, dammit! You too, Raccoon Eyes!"

Ashido immediately paused, Sero lazily looking over his shoulder as Bakugou stomped up to them, a dangerous look of determination in his eyes. Ashido eyed him curiously. "What's up, Blasty?"

Feet spread apart and hands on his hips, Bakugou snarled. "Whatever plans you two had tonight, cancel them now!"

"Excuse me?" Sero snorted in amusement, while Ashido peered at him with interest.

"You heard me!" Bakugou responded, pointing at them dangerously. "Meet me at the gym at seven o'clock sharp! You're going to fucking master chain kills by the end of this fucking day even if it fucking kills me!"

"Again, I say. A lot of fuck today."

"You sure about that, Blasty?" Sero questioned. "Would hate to waste your time like that."

"You're not a waste of my-" He stopped himself so quickly he nearly choked, coughing harshly into his elbow while the other two just grinned at him, and didn't ask about his health as Iida wished they would do, please.

"Just- Just meet me at the damn gym tonight." He stammered, shoving his hands in his pockets and storming his way down the hallway, face beat red and steam practically coming out of his ears at the sound of Ashido and Sero's laughter. Glancing at the clock, Iida chose to take his leave.

Of course, despite how unheroic and unethical it was, Iida had become extremely curious as to what they were now doing in the gym and wished to eavesdrop, and a part of him wanted to argue that he was just keeping an eye on them to make sure that nothing of value was destroyed and that no one got into trouble. Ultimately, however, he decided that he should respect their privacy.

So, imagine his surprise when come seven thirty and Midoriya and Uraraka approached him in casual gym clothes. "We were just heading to the gym to spar." Uraraka beamed. "You wanna join us?"

With a swift nod, Iida had graciously accepted the offer, quickly changing and jogging with them to the gymnasium. It seemed to be pretty full, some people working out away from the training areas while a few hero students were scattered around the hero training spaces sparring and practicing using their quirks. Even with all of the noise, Uraraka's laughter could easily be heard above the small crowd's banter as she dragged Midoriya behind her, finding their favorite spot for warm-ups and dropping their equipment to begin.

"There's a lot of people here, tonight." Midoriya mused.

"Perhaps it is a good thing!" Iida exclaimed. "It warms my heart that our fellow students are so concerned about both their health and growth!"

There was a commotion somewhere in the training area, and Uraraka was already craning her neck to see what was going on when Iida and Midoriya followed suit. The entire training area was littered with dummies and robots, both operational and completely obliterated. Even after all this time, Iida still had yet to fully understand why Midoriya's eyes lit up with such joy and admiration as an explosion rang out and Bakugou rocketed through the air, Sero not too far behind and Ashido just below them.

"Focus, you idiots! Size! Balance! Pressure points! The goal is efficiency!"

"Yeah, yeah! We heard you the first time, jackass!" There was a certain level of fondness despite Sero's harshness as he flipped through the air, using one of the dummies as a blunt weapon against two different robots, effectively knocking them out of commission. The next second, his foot was digging into another dummy's face while he simultaneously pulled another robot's legs out from under it. The excitement in Sero's eyes was impossible to miss.

Not too far away, Ashido was taking enemies out so quickly that it looked like she was dancing, kicking two different dummies in the face with the splits before leaping forward and swinging her hands down on another one in front of her like a jackhammer. Sliding after the other two at incredible speeds, three more were down instantly.

"They're so fast!" Uraraka shouted, almost as enthusiastic as Midoriya, and Iida couldn't even help the astonishment on his own face. The jump in skill was impressive, to say the least, watching Sero continue to incapacitate enemies at speeds that made him jealous and Ashido literally dance around her opponents as if it was more than just second nature.

And then she slipped.

It wasn't that violent of a landing, but it wasn't at all smooth either as she slid across the ground and into the wall, not standing up right away. Iida felt his heart clench for a second before she pulled herself up and dusted herself off, a look of frustration marring her features.

There were signs of corrosion where she'd landed, and now that Iida was looking around, he could see several spots around the gym floor and walls where similar damage was done, as if she'd had a few harsh landings before they'd arrived as well. Sero was suddenly hanging upside down above her, a look of concern in his eyes as she let out a rough groan.

Bakugou approached them shortly after, his expression mostly unreadable as Ashido sat down heavily and seemed to begin ranting. Iida couldn't make out anything that was being said, but a part of him didn't mind, as he still didn't feel too great about spying on his classmates. He'd turned back to begin stretching and actually get some productive training in when Uraraka suddenly gasped and Midoriya started squealing, and Iida couldn't help but turn around.

Bakugou had sat down next to Ashido and thrown an arm around her shoulders.

It was incredibly casual, but unbelievably comfortable, as good friends should be. Sero had a big goofy grin on his face while they sat there, and though Ashido's face was hidden from view, Iida was once again given a decent view of Bakugou's profile, and though none of them could hear them, Iida could still read his lips to some degree, and one word stuck out to him as Bakugou harshly poked Ashido's collarbone.

Amazing.

With a nod from both parties, Bakugou pulled away, and Ashido's face reappeared, her frustration replaced with determination. She leaped back up, dusted herself off, and prepared for another run, Sero dropping down next to her and doing the same.

"They're such great friends. I'm glad he has them." he heard Midoriya mutter to himself, and honestly, comparing the Bakugou that he'd met their first day of classes and the Bakugou they were seeing now, Iida couldn't possibly agree more.

It would be during hero combat training the next day that Sero and Ashido would be showing off their new skills and practically running circles around everyone else with speed and efficiency that had All Might absolutely grinning.

And it would be during Sero's record-breaking speed run during his solo exercise that one cheer would rise above the rest to plant a smile on Iida's own face.

"Yes! That's what I'm talking about, Soy Sauce!"