Chapter 5: Come to an end

As class 1-A funneled their way back into their classroom, Iida couldn't help but breath another sigh of relief. As he sat down in his chair, he thought to himself "Ok…I managed to prevent one disaster, now I just need to think of a way to patch things up between those two."

Just as he finished thinking that to himself, Bakugo walked into class, looking more apathetic than anything, turned to look at Iida, and made a b-line straight for him.

"Ah, Bakugo," Iida said with a friendly smile, "I'm sorry for ever doubting your ability t-" He was cut off as Bakugo slammed a hand on his desk.

Bakugo then leaned down so that he was eye level with Iida. He looked him in the eyes, then glanced over to Midoriya, then to Uraraka, both of whom were on opposite sides of the room, seemingly trying to collect themselves after the events that took place during lunch.

He leaned in as the growled "You owe me…" then stood back up to make his way back to his desk, but not before saying "You tell no one about this."

Iida was surprised. Did Bakugo realize why he had him steal Mei's blueprints? Moreover, he knew the reason why and he still helped? Iida couldn't help but crack a small smile as he whispered "Of course, thank you Bakugo."

The young man in question snorted in response, then made his way back to his desk, flinging his feet on top of it, maintaining eye contact with Iida as he did so, as if to say 'you wanna thank me, don't ride my ass about my feet on the desk and we're square.'

Iida simply nodded and turned his attention back to his thoughts, "Well…it seems like Bakugo does care after all."

The rest of the day proceeded as normal, aside from the abundant amount of tension between Midoriya and Uraraka. Iida could sense that the rest of the class was starting to grow extremely concerned.

When Aizawa dismissed them at the end of the day, most of class 1-A waited until Midoriya and Uraraka had left the room before swarming Iida's desk. They were all extremely worried, asking him for details on what happened, and if there was anything they could do to help. Iida thanked them all for their offers, but he had one final idea that he was certain would work.

As he walked out of class, he sent both Uraraka and Midoriya the same message. 'Hey…something's come up, and I really need to talk to you. Please meet me at my room."

In all honesty, he felt lost, he really wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have a plan this time. Then it occurred to him that maybe they don't need his help, but he needs theirs.

When he got to his hall, he noticed Midoriya and Uraraka were already standing at his door. Uraraka looked a little displeased when she saw Midoriya. "What are you doing here Midoriya?"

He flinched before saying "I-Iida said he needed to talk with me about something and to meet him at his room."

"hmmm… That's what he told me…" She said as she side-eyed him, then went back to ignoring Midoriya's existence. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he just kept standing there with his mouth open but no words coming out. He eventually settled to sit down against the wall, hug his knees and wait.

Iida knew how hard this was on both of them. They were both heartbroken, and yet they were still willing to put their differences aside to help him. He honestly expected no less. "Now it's my turn to help you," he thought to himself.

As he approached his room, his two visitors took notice of his presence.

"Iida!" They both said in unison.

"I came as soon as I got your message, I'm sorry that I was so distant today." Midoriya started to apologize.

Then Uraraka chimed in "I'm so sorry Iida, I was so wrapped up in my own problems…." She gave a quick look in Midoriya's direction, "never mind, that doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm here to help you now."

Iida smiled at the concerned faces of his friends. "I really appreciate you two coming over, sorry I didn't tell you the other was coming, but…I just really need both of you right now."

Midoriya and Uraraka looked at each other with concerned written on their face, then turned to Iida and nodded. Iida unlocked his door and Invited them inside.

Uraraka and Midoriya immediately ran into the room and took a seat on his bed. As Iida sat down in the very same chair the two each used to discuss their problems. He looked at them and sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll cut to the chase then." He said as he took his glasses off and set them on the desk, trying to think of what to say. "I have so much to say…I just don't know where to start."

"It's alright," Uraraka assured him, "take your time."

He nodded and sighed. Then he looked at both of them. They were both sitting on his bed, looking at him with anticipation.

He realized right then how he was going to fix this.

"I-I need your help with something…It's stupid, and nothing worth getting worked up over, but I honestly can't think of what to do," he said as he was looking down to the floor.

"It's not stupid," Midoriya said softly, "if it's bothering you, no matter how small it is, then w-" he looked at Uraraka for a moment "I'll always be here to help."

"Me too!" Uraraka agreed.

"Alright then…well," he sat up and looked at them, "I need relationship advice."

"Relationship advice?!" They said in unison.

"Yes, I told you it was silly," he said, scratching the back of his head, "And I know that I've been the one you two have historically gone to for these kinds of things," he chuckled "but I'm really stuck and don't know what to do."

Midoriya was the first to speak, "Of course I'll help Iida, I'll do my best!"

Uraraka, looked at Iida slyly, "so, who's the lucky person?"

Iida laughed before saying "No, Uraraka, not for me, for someone else."

"Someone else?" they once again said in sync.

"Well…it's more than one person," he scratched his cheek as he continued, "I really care about these people, and when they came to me for help, I was overjoyed and wanted to help in any way possible, but it seems like I've only made things worse for both of them."

Midoriya leaned forward, "I'm sure they don't blame you Iida."

Uraraka looked at him, "yea, you were just trying to help."

He gave a soft smile, "I'm not worried that they're mad at me, but…I just want them to be happy…and I feel bad about where they are now. Since my advice hasn't worked, I thought I'd get some help from the two people I trust the most."

The pair sitting on the bed blushed as they began to scratch their heads in embarrassment.

"So, I'll catch you up to speed." Iida took a breath. "I'm sure these people wouldn't want me using their names, so I'll refer to them as…Peter and Mary." He stopped to make sure the other two were following, when they nodded at him, he continued.

"So Peter and Mary are both really good friends with each other, best friends even, but they also both love each other, but the other doesn't realize it."

"Aww…" Uraraka said, "that's so cute."

"Haha, right? So when they each came to me asking how to tell the other how they feel about them, I wanted to help, problem is, I didn't want to tell either of them that the other already liked them. I felt like it would be better for both of them if they realized it on their own. Does that make since?"

Midoriya cupped his chin and nodded, "yea, that's completely fair, I've heard that communication is key in any good relationship."

Uraraka huffed at that, but instead of pressing it, Iida continued. "Right, that's what I thought. So when Peter asked me for advice on how to confess to Mary, I told him that he should just be honest and that she'll respect him a lot more if he just tells the truth."

Midoriya perked up at that, and raised an eye brow inquisitively "that's kina like what…" he glanced at Uraraka, and stopped, turning back to Iida, "Sorry Iida, please continue."

Iida chuckled as he continued, "so shortly after I was done talking to Peter, Mary came up to me and asked the same thing about Peter. As I explained before, I didn't want to just tell her that Peter was planning on asking her, so I just said that Peter came to me with a similar problem and that she had nothing to worry about."

Uraraka looked at him, "why would you tell her about you and Peter's discussion?"

"Well, I didn't say it was about her, but I was hoping that after I told her she didn't have anything to worry about, hoping she'd catch on without me telling her."

Midoriya's head tilted, "Well…did she?"

Iida chuckled, "She immediately thought that he asked about a girl named Gwen, another mutual friend of ours."

Uraraka laughed, "I'm sorry Iida, but your friends a dummy! Hahahaha!"

Iida had to hold back his own laughter as the continued on with his story. "So I later hear that Mary is giving Peter the cold shoulder because she thinks he likes Gwen and now she feels betrayed and lied to."

Uraraka stopped laughing at that and looked over at Midoriya, then back at the ground guiltily.

"Of course, Peter has no idea what's going on and starts to break down, so I tell him about the discussion Mary and I had. I told him that I let Mary know that he came to see me about relationship advice, and that she thought he was dating Gwen and mad afterword. He then asked me why that would have made her mad, so I told him to think about it."

"Well it should be obvious why she got mad," Midoriya said, "It's because Mary likes Peter, but she thinks Peter likes Gwen."

"Correct," Iida said, "but then you won't believe what he said next." Midoriya and Uraraka leaned in, clearly hooked on this rom-com of a story. "He came to the conclusion that Mary liked Gwen."

Midoriya gave a full belly laugh, "That's ridiculous! There's no way this is real!"

"Oh, it is alright," Iida said, "So here's my problem. It seems like all my advice has gotten them no were, and I just don't know what to do anymore. They both still clearly love each other, but Mary is trying to detach herself from Peter, and Peter is trying to explain to Mary that she's free to date Gwen. Its honestly a mess."

"It sounds so sad," Uraraka stated "I can see why this is bothering you so much, it's really gotten out of hand."

"It sure has," Iida sighed, "So, what do you think they should do."

They were both quiet for a moment, deep in thought, then Uraraka spoke up first, "well…I think that Mary shouldn't have been so quick to make assumptions. She should have talked to Peter about it first…but at the same time…I get where she's coming from by trying to detach herself." She glanced at Midoriya before continuing, "Because if it was true that Peter was dating Gwen, then that would probably be hard for Mary to deal with…seeing someone she loves with someone else..."

Midoriya piped up, "It's probably just as hard on her as it is on him."

Uraraka looked at Midoriya, tears welling up in her eyes.

He cleared his throat, "I mean, of course, seeing him with someone else would hurt her, but she would probably also think that she'd just get in the way, and since she loves him so much, the only way she thought he'd be happy was if she was out of his life." Midoriya sighed, "it must be so hard to think that way…"

Uraraka sniffled, and Midoriya turned around and noticed she had tears coming down her eyes, "I-I'm sorry Uraraka, I-I-I didn't mean to cut you off, that was extremely rude of me."

"No, no, you're fine," she sniffed, "it's just that…you're right, and just thinking that what Mary must be going through is just horrible." She blinked, "And poor Peter, he has no idea what he did wrong, but now he's feels like he's losing someone he loves. Not only that, be he loves her so much that he's willing to throw away his chances at a relationship with her, and get her together with someone else, just because he wants to see her happy."

"Y-yea," Midoriya said through quiet sobs, "you're right…that's really tough…" He wiped both eyes, "they must really care about each other, huh?"

"Yea," Uraraka agreed.

Iida watched this all unfold with a large smile on his face, "You guys are really insightful, I'm sure that's exactly what they are feeling. I think I have an idea now."

Midoriya sniffled, "I-I'm glad we can help Iida."

Uraraka wiped her red eyes one more time, then asked "So," she took a deep breath, "what's your plan."

Iida couldn't help it any more as he lost it laughing. The two on his bed looked at him in confusion, their eyes red from so much crying.

"I'm sorry," Iida said through laughs, "really, I'm sorry." He collected himself before explaining, "Just thinking about this is making me excited. Alright, so here's my plan, I'm going to tell them that I have a problem that I need their help for and get them both to come and talk to me at the same time, then, I'm goanna explain their situation to them, but using fake names, and then ask for their advice. Then they'll be able to talk about how they are feeling through the guise of giving me advice."

"That's a great idea Iida!" Midoriya said as he jumped up.

"Yea! Please tell us how it goes!" Uraraka asked.

"Oh, of course," he said, he then glanced at his watch for a few moments. Then he spoke again, "well, I think it went great, they sat down, heard the full story, and even sympathized with the other's point of view. I'm just waiting on them to catch on that it was actually about them."

Uraraka and Midoriya looked at Iida for a few moments…then, as if struck by lightning, their eyes widened as their faces became red. They both slowly…ever so slowly, turned to face each other.

"U-U-Ummmm…I," Midoriya stamared.

Uraraka answered in part with "I-I uhhhmmm"

Iida rose from his chair, "Well, I believe my work here is done." He stretched a little bit, "When you're both done processing what just happened, meet me in the living room, and we'll celebrate," and with that, he left the two dumfounded teenagers in his room. As he walked down, big smile on his face, he only thought of one thing.

"Mission complete."

Notes:

And its done! Sorry its a bit longer than the other chapters, but I wanted to make it as good as possible. I honestly really liked writing this chapter.

so to answer some questions, Peter and Mary are a reference to Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. I used those names because Horikoshi loves Spider-Man. If the names are to jarring to people and just take them out of the experience, then I'll change them. I didn't think it was such a big deal and I thought it would be a nice little nod.

The title "A well-oiled engine" comes from the phrase "running like a well oiled-machine," but since Iida's quirk is called engine, and engine's also need oil to run smoothly, I decided to use that.

so yea...thats about it, I hope you enjoyed it!