My Hero Academia: Oneshots

☁️Tenya x Reader: Pebbles are for the Birds

"There's got to be some sort of algorithm... a way that guarantees success..." Iida tapped his pencil on the desk, shut off in his room with the Discovery Channel on in the background. It was the kind of educational white-noise that helped him get his homework done. He was able to ignore it until something caught his attention.

"...choose a mate through this particular method."

Tenya turned up the volume. "Adelie penguins present a carefully chosen stone to the female of their choice. If she accepts the offering, the pair mates for life."

"Eureka!" Tenya exclaimed happily, the epiphany hitting him square in the face. "Of course! That's how people get engaged as well. With precious stones! Why did I not see this before?! It's obviously the universal sign of love across all species!" He grabbed his backpack and ran towards the front door. "I must find the perfect geologic specimen!"

"Where are you going?" Tensei asked. Tenya froze, realizing he had no idea how to go about selecting the love-rock in question.

"Uh..."

"Did you need something from the store? I can run out for you." He offered.

"No..." He squirmed under his brother's scrutinizing gaze. "Brother... I need some... advice."

"About?" He smiled, immediately guessing the subject matter from Tenya's unusually bashful demeanor.

"Well... there's this girl at school and-"

"Say no more. You need a nice gift, is that it?"

"The perfect gift!" Tenya brightened up at his brother's understanding.

"Then let's go." They traveled downtown together, passing through the bustle of the city. Tenya knew exactly where their endpoint was, and pulled Tensei eagerly by the hand every step of the way.

"Here it is!" Tenya threw the door open, racing inside.

"Uh..." Tensei tilted his head. "Are you sure this is where you want to buy the gift?"

"Of course! This is the only place, isn't it?" Tensei was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend his younger brother's sudden fixation with geology. But this certainly wasn't the first occurrence of something like this. Every now and again, Tenya would read up on a new subject and become fully immersed in it. Tensei just figured this was his current interest and went along with it.

The vendor in question was a small locally owned rock and gemstone polishing store. It was more of a tourist destination and rarely attracted regular customers, so Tensei was surprised to still see it in business after all these years. Tenya, however, assumed it was a valuable asset since it was the only love-stone vendor in the whole city.

Tenya soon became overwhelmed by all the choices that stood before him. Everything from colored quartz to snowflake obsidian to tigers eye and amethyst. 'Are they color coated based on the relationship with your intended? If so, is there a chart somewhere that I could see to find out?' He didn't want to ask and come off as inexperienced. It was now he wondered why diamonds were the most mainstream love-stone. These options here are much prettier and more diverse. 'I cant be the first and only person to realize this, can I?' Was he really so brilliant that nobody else caught on to it? 'Is it just a marketing scheme? ...No... There has to be a reason I'm missing. There's definitely a code to selecting the right one...'

"If you're set on getting her a stone, I'd suggest one of these two." Tensei snapped Tenya out of his spiraling thought process. In each of his hands nestled a lilac one and a light-reflecting orange one. Tenya thanked the heavens for his love-savvy older brother who had already narrowed down the difficult choice for him.