Tiger Stripes (Iida x Chubby reader)

1

"Just start by saying hi."

"But then what?"

"I don't know, strike conversation?"

"You're no help."

"Just try it!"

Just then, the teacher came through the door, and y/n headed back to her seat. The teacher then came to the podium and cleared her throat, "Good morning everybody, today will be a working day."

The whole class groaned except the major intellectuals, "I know, but this will be different than the rest of them. It will be the starting day of our last major project." the same students didn't seem too happy about it, but everybody was quite conflicted because if this was their last project, why so early? 

"It is a multi-month project that will take us to the end of the year, and will count towards your final."

 A student from the back spoke up, "WHAT? What could this possibly be about if it takes..." He counted the months left on his fingers, "...3 months?!"

The teacher put on an irked face, "If you let me continue, you would know that you have the rest of January to the end of school in March to do this project - Slacking off and procrastination are not an option..." 

Y/n panicked; she was infamous in her family for procrastinating - "How the fuck am I gonna get this done?"

"You will be in pairs and tasked with keeping a log of communication and bonding over the few months while still doing the work for your other classes." Every student had some face on whether it was excited, confused, or scared, "I have assigned partners." 

Now that was the finishing touch for them all - Throughout the year, she let them pick partners, but this time she wasn't and it was all making sense. As she called out the pairs, each student was put with somebody who they very rarely talked to in class - I guess teachers are quite perceptive when it comes to these things. 

"Next, Cameron and Quinn..." Cam looked at y/n when their teacher called it out, looking petrified. Quinn was for sure one of the quietest in the class, and Cam was the complete opposite. "And last, Y/n and Iida." 

"Oh great, the nerd. He yells at me for saying anything even CLOSE to a curse word..."

Iida just nodded, not opposed to the pairing, and ready to get started right away. "Alright, now I would like you to sit next to your partners - These will be your seats for the rest of the year." 

The same student from before then raised his hand, "What's the point of this?" 

"Good question. They say that you become similar to those who are surrounded with - So for this project, you will test this theory to see whether it is true, or false." Finally, it was all coming together.

Once in their new seats, the class settled and they continued the rest of their day like normal - Most people not saying a word to their partners unless they needed a pencil or something of the sort. 

Lunch finally came around, and everybody went back to those who they were friends with, finally escaping the awkward tension of the project start. 

While eating, Cam spoke up, "Iida, huh? What's that like?" 

"I could ask you the same thing," Taking the conversation off of her.

"I don't know, It's just really awkward so far- HEY!" She realized, "You turned it around! Tell me!"

Y/n laughed, "Fine, fine. It's quiet so far, but he's just so... proper? Makes me feel out of place."

"I get it. I sat next to him during our 2nd year of middle school, and he was the same way he is now."

"Shit. What a guy?"

Cam hummed in agreement, and they continued lunch with random topics of conversation. Finally, it was time for the rest of their classes, and they sat back in their new, uncomfortable seats. Every time a teacher of theirs walked in, they could immediately feel the tension spiraling between the students, making the class a little more shaky than normal. At the end of the day, their homeroom teacher stepped in once more. 

"Good afternoon class, how was the first day?" She knew the answer already, but she wanted to hear it anyway. The class remained silent and gave her a face of extreme discomfort. "Alright... Did you all keep track of everything?" 

The class dropped, they had no idea they were supposed to do anything of the sort. "Did I not mention that?" She called sarcastically, "With every interaction - good or bad - You both are to track your feelings, conversations, etc."

To say the least, the class didn't like it.

1410 words