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Iida knew he had to be annoying his classmates with the persistent tapping of his foot. This became extraordinarily clear as his classmate finally snapped.
“Can you stop tapping your fucking foot four eyes? It's annoying as shit!” Bakugou screamed.
“Dude!” Kirishima chided always monitoring the blonde's behavior. “Sorry, Iida.”
“It’s quite alright.” He spoke with a forced smile.
He stopped tapping his foot out of respect for Bakugou and his other classmates that seemed a little annoyed. That made it all worse. Without that outlet, his body began to shake. He was trying his best to keep it hidden but he felt as if he were at the epicenter of an earthquake.
He was shaking. He was exhausted. He was hungry. He was nauseous. His head was pounding. He regretted every action he had taken that day.
Iida strives to be the best just like everyone else in his class.
On one of the class trips to the mall, he spotted these drink pouches. The box said they were meant for water and they're supposed to flavor it while adding an energy boost.
They worked great.
He had been using them for a week now. A few of his classmates and even his teacher commented on his extra speed.
One problem.
Iida learned quickly he had to be careful how and when he used these drink pouches. He had accidentally skipped breakfast one day. He still managed to pour a pouch into his water before class had started.
Big mistake.
He ended up having to go to Recovery Girl that day. Turns out that an extra energy booster on an empty stomach is a terrible idea. He felt like he was having a heart attack. He hadn’t wanted to go to Recovery Girl. He was just going to wait it out. However, he must have looked as bad as he felt because Aizawa demanded he saw her. He even threatened suspension.
After that, he learned how to manage it better. He never skipped meals. He had plenty of snacks throughout the day. Sure he still had minor spells of pure heart-racing, blood-pumping anxiety run through him.
That was always after his classes had commenced. When he could return to his dorms or the school gym and work it out.
Now he was stuck.
Sure class was almost over but he had agreed to meet up with a group of his classmates to work on their group project Yamada had assigned.
Maybe if he raised his hand now he could ask to go to the nurse. When Recovery Girl asked what was wrong he could tell her a half-truth. He had a headache and he felt nauseous. He wouldn’t technically be lying to her.
His fate was sealed as the bell rang. Too late. It's alright he's a hero. If this is a game of endurance he can last. He’ll just wait for his meeting with his group to end.
“Hey, class rep you ready to help us get an A on this class project?” Kaminari greeted as he made his way over.
“Yes! I’m very excited to be working with you Kaminari!” Iida definitely didn’t stand up entirely too fast.
Koda, who had gotten to him faster than Kaminari, tapped his left shoulder with his right hand, then the left before reaching that hand out to Iida. A silent question.
‘Are you ok?’
“I’m quite alright Koda. I’m just ready to excel at this project with you!” Iida answered. The entire class was used to Koda using sign and there was a few basic questions and phrases they had picked up.
“Hey, um shit, I forgot my binder for this project. Iida, do you want to come back to my dorm and help me find it? You know how bad I am at this stuff.” Kaminari asked rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Of course Kaminari.” Iida agreed nonjudgmentally.
“Perfect! Can you tell Ojiro we’ll be a little late?” After getting nonverbal confirmation from Koda the pair made it back to Denki’s dorm.
“Kaminari I don’t mean to be disrespectful but your room is quite a mess,” Iida commented.
“I like it a mess. It’s how I vibe.” Denki said, smiling. As he set his stuff down and turned around that smile dropped.
“I’m gonna be straight with you man. You are shaking like a leaf and it reminds me of how I get with my electricity sometimes, are you ok? Like actually, dead serious, ok?” He asked the taller.
“Of course I am Kaminari.” Iida tried to convince him. Despite his deep sigh. The fact that he won’t make eye contact. The nervous wringing of his hands. The way his foot was once again tapping now that they had stopped moving.
It was a lie of course.
He could barely hang on to what Kaminari was saying, let alone the room around him. He was buzzing. Vibrating so intently he was sure he’d combust. Or pass out. Or both.
Denki took Iida’s hands into his own.
“Dude, you are shaking.” He spoke firmly. “It’s like I said, I experience stuff like this with my electricity. You look like you’re really struggling and I want to help.” Iida sighed.
“I,” he paused “I suppose I am a bit shaky.” He conceded.
“Yeah, I can see that.” He chuckled softly. “Do you know why?”
“I can make an educated guess. However, with how absolutely horrid I feel, a long explanation may be a bit hard at the moment. I can just show you if you come to the kitchen with me.”
So the pair made their way to the kitchen after Iida handed Kaminari the box of drink pouches he sat down at the table. The exhaustion was starting to outweigh the pure adrenaline.
“Does this stuff always affect you badly?”
“Not always.” He lied.
“Or not always this badly I suppose.” He amended.
“I usually go to the school gym to work off the excess energy but with the group,” Iida’s speech was beginning to slow down a tad. “With the group project, I um, I knew I wouldn’t be able to.” He stifled a yawn.
“Hey, you ok Iida?” Denki set the box on the table, instead putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Mmhm,” was the response “just, tired,” His breathing had begun to calm and he was blinking slowly. “All that extra energy's crashing.”
“I think it would be beneficial to quite a few of our classmates. Accommodating the needs of your students is important, especially in such a rigid course.” Denki heard Momo’s voice.
“Hey, Yaoyarozu can you come here for a sec.” He shouted from a crouched position by his class rep.
“What is Denki?” She asked from the door frame.
“Is there a problem, Kaminari?” Aizawa asked from behind her. Oh. That's who she was talking to.
“Iida’s suffering from a bit of an Adrenaline crash and I don’t know what to do here. I knew how to help him when he was suffering from too much energy, not so much this.” He explained.
“Iida,” The teacher spoke crouching by his other side, “Can you hear me?”
Iida let out a groan of discomfort from where he sat half asleep slumped against the kitchen table.
“There’s not much we can do. If one or both of you will help me we can get him to one of the sofas and let him rest.”
Both of the students awkwardly helped their teacher get the class rep laying down on one of the couches. Momo created a blanket for him before laying it over him. Denki took off his shoes for him and set them on the floor.
“Anyway, I am extremely late for a group project so I should go.” Kaminari quickly left the room, heading to retrieve his bag.
“Should I stay with him, Sensei?” Momo questioned.
“You don’t have to but if you do I won’t have to. Either way, I’ll need to come back later to discuss what happened with him.” Momo sat down on the other end of the L-shaped couch. Taking out her homework to work on.
“Thank you Yaoyorozu I’ll be back later. Both to check up on Iida and to finish our conversation about additions to the dorms.
If you could get him a glass of water for when he gets up that would be perfect. ” With that, her teacher left.
She did as instructed and set the bottle of water, she has never seen this boy drink water out of a cup, on the coffee table for him.
When Tenya woke up the exhaustion was gone and he no longer felt like his body was trying to tear itself in two. However, he still had a pounding headache. A herd of animals trying to crack open his cranium all at the same time.
“How are you feeling Iida?” Momo responded to his loud groan. At the sound of her voice, IIda shot up in surprise.
Big mistake.
Now his mind was spinning, maybe his body too, and he had to try desperately not to throw up.
When a wastebasket appear in front of him he released that concern. He dropped to the floor between the sofa and the coffee table and retched. He could feel Momo’s hand on his shoulder rubbing small comforting circles.
When he was done heaving a water bottle appeared in his peripheral vision and he quickly downed the entire thing.
“Stay here, I’ll get you some crackers from the kitchen to get rid of that taste.” Momo intrusted before leaving.
“Iida? Are you alright?” Iida turned his head towards the sound of Ojirio’s voice. He was standing behind the couch.
“Ojirio.” He commented before recalling where he was supposed to be before this all transpired.
“The group project! I’m so sorry I was unable to make it!”
“It’s fine Iida.” He assured. “Besides it looks like you had bigger issues. Are you feeling ok?”
“I must admit vomiting is not quite pleasurable.” He commented as he made his way back onto the sofa, sitting up.
“However, it’s just once. I’m not inherently sick. I stood up too quickly and the motion caused this.” He gestured to the waste basket. Had Yaoyorozu made it? He was certain it was not by the sofa before.
“That’s good. Is that not why you couldn’t make it?” Ojirio asked as Momo came back.
“Hello Ojiro, here Iida eat these.” She handed him a simple packet of crackers which he gratefully accepted.
“I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure of the circumstances. I may have passed out.” Iida tried to recall what happened. As far as he recalled his body went from having entirely too much energy to none at all.
“Adrenline crash is what I was told. Though I’m not certain from what.” Momo explained before picking up the trash can, intending to take care of it.
“Yoayoruzu, please let me.” He stood to take the bin from her.
“It’s quite alright Iida let me.” She spoke with finality, leaving before he could argue.
“Whatever made you feel under the weather, I hope you recover Iida. I have to head up to my dorm to work on some homework. See you later.” Ojiro wished him well before disappearing.
As Ojiro left Iida received his next guest.
"Perfect timing," Aizawa announced his presence.
"Mr. Aizawa. I sincerely apologize for all the trouble I have caused." Iida once again stood too fast, bowing in apology as soon as he stood.
He once again felt nauseous. Luckily he was able to avoid throwing up this time.
"You don't need to apologize for not feeling well, Iida. However, I'd like to talk about why you got sick all of the sudden. Denki said something about an adrenaline crash."
The pair sat down on the sofa and Aizawa noticed the crackers. He pointed to it questioningly.
"I'm afraid I may have stood up too fast a second ago and, vomited." He explained sheepishly.
Aizawa nodded in understanding before pushing the crackers toward him. Iida took the silent command and picked up the crackers to eat.
"Kaminari said you suffered from an adrenaline crash?"
"It was more of fatigue than an adrenaline crash." Usually, Iida's respect for his teacher meant he held intense eye contact. However, at this moment he kept his eyes trained on the crackers he was eating.
"Alright, why the sudden fatigue?"
Iida merely sat there looking guilty. He could lie and say he just pushed himself too hard at practice.
Aizawa would know it was a lie.
"You can tell me anything, Iida. I'm your teacher and I'm responsible for your health and safety while you live in the dorms." He cut through his anxious thoughts.
"My quirk tends to zap my energy even when I'm not actively using it. I found these drink mixes that have an energy booster in them. They have been working well."
"But, you're crashing from that extra energy."
"I do get shaky sometimes."
"And pass out?"
"I must admit I'm not used to that particular drawback."
"Everything has a drawback Iida, especially quirks. If we need to do more to accommodate the drawbacks of your quirk that's something we can do. However, these energy mixes don't seem like the best option."
"Yes, Sensei." Iida's eyes were again trained elsewhere.
"I'm gonna take them to Lunch Rush. They can be the one to decide if it's ok for you to keep using them. He knows more about that kind of thing."
They were the one responsible for the nutritional needs of the students. He would know whether these drink pouches were ok to use.
“For now we can deal with the other drawbacks of your quirk. You say you get shaky. Do you know why that is?”
“Yes, it's,” Iida sighed trying to remember how his brother explained it to him.
“In a car or a bus, there's the shell of the vehicle. Then there are several more layers of fabrics and cushions. The seat cushions you sit on for example. In a good car, you can’t feel the sensations caused by the rotating tires, transmission, or,” He paused sighing.
“Or the engines. My body doesn’t have those cushions. Or as many of them, I feel the pulsing, roaring vibrations from the engines in my calves, all the time.” Iida’s face held a grimace of pain he's long past gotten used to. Accepted.
“It's worst when I use my quirk or immediately after. Though sometimes,” he paused blinking back tears.
He would not cry in front of his teacher.
He was a hero. He could deal with the side effects of his own quirk God damn it.
“Sometimes the shakes just seem to last. A long, long time.”
“Iida,” His teacher sighed rubbing his forehead in frustration. “How have I never noticed this?”
“I’ve learned to hide it. It’s not that big of a deal Sensei.” He backtracked. “I’ve been dealing with these shakes since my quirk manifested.” He tried to reassure his teacher.
His teacher looked at him with tired eyes. Eyes that said
You deserve better than this.
He gave Iida a gentle smile. One that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“If there’s anything I can do to help let me know. If you need to stand or walk around in class that’s fine. You don’t even have to ask. You can just stand up.”
“No! Aizawa sensei I could never! That would be disrespecting the rules of not only your classroom but the school I could never!” Iida was as passionate about the rules as ever. Aizawa didn’t even sigh this time he just fixed him with really? look.
“Iida. Do you think Bakugou is breaking the rules by wearing his hearing aids?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Do you think Tsu is breaking the rules when she’s wrapped in a blanket during winter classes?”
“Of course not! She needs it for her quirk. Without it, she’d fall asleep during class.”
“Exactly. She needs it for her quirk. Needing accommodations due to your quirk is not breaking the rules.” Iida had no response to that.
“I’m not going to make you stand up during class if you’re not comfortable with it but if you want to, if it helps with your shaking, you are more than welcome to.” This clearly wasn’t a statement he could fight.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go meet with Yaoyoruzu to address some of her concerns about dorm life.” With that, his teacher left.
***
It happened a week later.
Lunch Rush had quickly shut down the idea of Iida drinking those energy mixed. Said something about them essentially being a week’s worth of energy drinks per day. That meant Iida was three times more exhausted than he had gotten accustomed to being.
Of course, that would leak into practice.
They had finished their larger practice and were allowed to spar, train their quirks, or rest until the end of class. Iida was already shaking.
“Iida, are you sure you want to spar? Aizawa said we could just relax until the end of class.” Midoriya had noticed his trembling and was trying unsuccessfully to get him to take a break.
“Maybe I could show you the kicks you thought would work with my quirk? I've been working on them.” He threw out one last thing to try to distract the class president.
“I’m sure Midoria. I need to push myself as far as I can to become the kind of hero my brother would be proud of. I need to live up to my name.”
“Ok.” He succeeds despite his concern. Sending one last glance his way he went to sit and watch Ururaka as she tested the limits of how much she could levitate.
Then it was Iida and Honenuki. Iida had been dying to spar with him ever since the Class A vs Class B event. His quirk was a perfect way for Iida to train his speed.
It was going great. It had started with Honenuki trying to predict the spots Iida would stop or run to and soften that ground. That and practically chasing him with the ground liquifying behind him.
At this point, the tables had turned. Iida was the one trying to predict. Honenuki’s movements. He was underground and he could be anywhere. Iida was still running around so he would be slightly harder to stop. Constantly running made him that much more exhausted.
He was sweating bullets. The wind he gets from going as fast as he does isn’t as helpful as it usually was. He was having to try harder to keep his running stable. Both from the overpowering full-body shakes and the sudden dizziness he was beginning to face.
Oh no.
Was vision getting fuzzy? No. He couldn’t pass out now. Iida was extending his speed. His sparring partner was working on both his prediction and endurance. He's got this.
He. Just. Needs. To. Go. Faster.
As Iida began to push more energy to his engines a hand wrapped around his ankle.
It all happened so fast.
Iida’s right leg was pulled underground up to his upper thigh. At the same time, his engines were trying to propel him faster. A loud bang rang out across the training grounds, like a gunshot. Several students jumped.
Then the screaming. Painful gutwrenching screaming.
At first, Iida didn’t realize he was the one screaming. He was too distracted but the unmeasurable pain. His leg being buried meant his engine’s flames had nowhere to go.
His skin was burning. Literally burning due to his own engine's flames.
He was sobbing and screaming and his vision was going dark. He couldn’t tell if he was passing out due to the pain of his searing flesh, or the exhaustion from using all his body’s fuel. He barely registered the feeling of two pairs of strong arms pulling him from the ground.
The last sensations he felt before passing out were a cold chill on his burning leg and hands running comfortingly through his hair.
When he woke up he was in what looked to be a hospital of sorts. Oh God was that an IV on his arm? When he took in his surroundings a bit closer he realized he was in Recovery Girls office.
He can’t feel his legs.
The panic was immediate. What happened? His legs were still there he could see them. Why couldn’t he feel them? What did he do to them? His breathing was becoming erratic. A hand was felt on his shoulder.
“Iida, breath.” His teacher’s voice was heard from his right side.
“You are alright. I promise everything is going to be ok.” He couldn’t feel his legs but there had to be a logical reason. His career couldn’t end with his own stupid mistakes.
“Why can’t I feel my legs?” His voice was shaky and soft.
“You’re legs are going to be numb for a while due to Recovery Girls healing and due to your quirk. You will regain feeling in them after an hour or so.” His explanation brought Tenya immense relief.
“What happened?”
“ What do you remember?”
“I was sparing with Honenuki at the end of class. I was running out of energy yet trying to push myself further. He pulled my leg underground right as I pushed more fuel to my engines.” A gasped as he realized what happened.
“You’re engines backfired. With your leg underground the flames from them burnt your calf. Todoroki and Uraraka were at your side in an instant. Todoroki was trying to cool the burn where Uraraka was attempting to console you. You were screaming.” Aizawa recounted the events.
“I’m sorry.”
“For screaming? Iida you don’t need to apologize for that, you were in immense pain.” Aizawa was shocked that Iida would feel the need to apologize for that.
“Who pulled me out of the ground? Todoroki and Ururaka?”
“No. That was me and Vlad.” Aizawa made sure to save the avoided conversation for later.
“Well, you’re in luck.” Recovery Girl spoke as she made her way toward them.
“It could have been much worse. I’m sure Aizawa already explained you won’t be able to feel your legs for a little while.”
“About that, why are both my legs numb when I only burnt one?”
“You were already pretty tired when they brought you up to me. My quirk had to steal energy from somewhere.” She explained.
“Anyway this is how things will go,” she continued. “When your legs are done being numb they are going to be extremely sore.
Rest is important Iida.
You’re teacher informed me your quirk can make you shake. If that's the case your legs are going to be extremely shaky. Depend on your fellow heroes.”
She finished her spiel by taking the IV, providing him with the nutrients her quirk used, out of his arm, and telling him he was free to go.
It was a fight to get Iida into the wheelchair. Aizawa had to catch him when he attempted to pull himself out of the bed. After an extra 15 minutes of Iida arguing about it, Aizawa was pushing him towards the dorms in the borrowed chair.
"If you could feel your energy draining, why did you try to push yourself?"
Iida was quiet. Aizawa assumed his silence was due to embarrassment. He sighed.
"Iida, we've talked about this. Your quirk is going to have drawbacks and you need to learn to work with them or you are going to hurt yourself." At Iida's flinch, he stopped walking.
"Kid?"
"I can't stop thinking about it." He whispered after a moment.
Aizawa knelt down to his level after he moved them into an empty classroom.
"Thinking about what?"
"My drive in becoming a hero has always been my brother." He paused.
Aizawa can honestly say he's never seen such a broken expression from Iida.
"Yet when I woke up and I couldn't feel my legs, my loudest thought was I can't end up like my brother."
Aizawa didn't know what to say. He was well aware of what happened to the Pro Hero Ingenium. He had his suspicions of what that had done to Tenya. To hear it, to see the stunned expression on his face.
Tenya didn't bother reaching up to wipe away the stray tear that had escaped.
"I won't let that happen Tenya." Aizawa decided.
"I promise."