Secondary thread for: https://twitter.com/TempeTot/status/1245681984006955008?s=20

Back one tweet: https://twitter.com/TempeTot/status/1301244241193168897?s=20

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The thread became so long that it now sometimes won't load. If you can't get it to load, you can try reloading a few times, or crawl up from the tweet above; it's also on AO3, which is linked in my profile.

“So,” Midoriya traced a line with his finger from one point on the blueprints to another, “if you were to just bypass that part of the system through here--”

“Wait,” Iida shook his head, “what about water pressure -- won’t the bypass slow it down?”

“Mm-mm.” He shook his head. “It’d probably make it stronger. With the river current coming from the east--”

“Ohh...that’s right -- my mistake--”

“No! It’s fine! We’ve rotated the parchment so many times, it’s hard to keep track of the direction.” Midoriya giggled, then leaned back in his chair.

“How very true.” After giving his shoulders a roll, the omega popped his neck. “I believe we’ve made admirable progress in our planning today.”

Giving him a smile, Midoriya nodded. “I think so, too! The only issue is actually implementing the changes; I’d have no /clue/ how to do the work involved.”

Iida pushed his glasses up his nose. “Oh, we have people with those skills -- not many /here/, per say, but I could always send for assistance from other villages.”

“The villages exchange services?”

“Of course.” Iida leaned back in his chair. “With our village being filled with warriors, there aren’t many who have the opportunity to develop specialized skills, so we often trade services or food for any assistance we need.”

Blink, blink. “That’s so cool!”

Iida cocked his head. “Cool?”

“Yeah! I love how all of you work together so well to better each other’s lives! The sense of community you have here is amazing, on its own, but the fact that it extends to other villages in the reserve is just mind-blowing.”

Cocking his head the other way, Iida furrowed his brow. “Do people on the outside not have that sort of connection?”

Midoriya shook his head. “It’s pretty rare in most places. On the outside, you’re kind of by yourself, unless you have a family or friends; they’re all really skeptical of strangers.”

“But a stranger is only a stranger until you get to know them, correct? If you just make an effort to get to know people, there’s no reason to be skeptical.”

“That mindset may work in a place like this, but,” Midoriya tightened a corner of his mouth, “the outside is just so big, it’d be impossible to get to know everybody. /Most/ people on the outside are strangers to each other.”

The omega leaned forward. “/Really/.”

He nodded. “It’s more of an oddity to come across people you actually /do/ know.”

“/Wow/...” Looking straight in front of himself, Iida blinked a few times, then looked back at Midoriya. “Alphas really /do/ destroy everything.”

Letting out a laugh, Midoriya nodded again. “They do, but I think, in this particular case, it’s more of a population and social structure issue than it is an alpha one.” He shrugged. “Omegas just run things better, too, from what I’ve seen.”

Sucking a loud breath into his nose, a proud look came over the omega’s face. “We certainly do apply ourselves to the fullest, and make use of every resource we have -- no stone goes unturned, no soul is overlooked, and no talent is wasted.”

“I can tell, and I think it’s so, /so/ cool! You all seem to push each other to be better, and value the things that people are good at; you see the potential in others, whereas on the outside, you’re only valued if you’re good at certain things.”

Iida shook his head. “Like what?”

“Math...science...engineering; that type of thing.”

“Are you not good at those things? You /seem/ to be.”

“Mm...I could probably do most of them, if I put my mind to it, but it’s not where my heart is, you know?” Midoriya let a hard breath out of his nose, then looked at Iida. “Most people think I went into a ‘useless’ field.”

Eyes widening, brow furrowed, Iida leaned forward. “/Useless/?”

Midoriya nodded. “Yeah. When I graduated, my dad said he wasn’t coming to the ceremony because it was a waste of time seeing me get my doctorate degree in ‘nothing.’” Dropping his gaze, he grabbed the back of his neck.

//I’d almost forgotten about that.//

“Well, that’s pure lunacy.”

Blotting his lips, Midoriya looked at him. “You think?”

“Despite my reservations about alphas, even /I/ can both see /and/ appreciate the value of your intellect.” Iida waved a hand over the blueprints. “You just helped us potentially improve our entire water system in five hours: how on earth is that useless?”

Shrugging, Midoriya tried to smile at him. “People are just brainwashed into believing if one can’t profit off of something, it doesn’t contribute to society in a meaningful way. They feel that way about art and literature, too.”

Iida put a hand out in front of himself. “But literature and art expand the mind and enhance our entire existence! When one feels, one thinks, and thinking people find solutions to our problems.”

“Not to mention, art and literature make us happy, and happy people are industrious people.”

Eyes wide, Iida threw his hands in front of himself. “EXACTLY! So, how can these areas of skill and vocation not be valued?”

Pushing his lips together, Midoriya shook his head. “Because the ones in power only care about money; they don’t care about people.” He sighed. “If you ask me -- or even just study the fall of Rome, these backwards values are just another signifier of--”

“--the downfall of modern civilization.” They both said the words at the same time, then looked at each other.

Iida placed a hand on his chest. “Did you /feel/ that?”

Bottom lip quivering, Midoriya put a hand on his chest, too. “I did.”

//The nerd mind-meld.
I’m so happy...//

Letting a breath out of his mouth, Iida fell back in his chair. “I haven’t felt something of that nature with anybody since I moved to this village. But, then again, most warriors are more inclined to physical hobbies such as sports, as opposed to scholarship, like myself.”

Midoriya nodded. “I get it.”

Iida gave him a little smile. “Don’t misunderstand: I /am/ a warrior. I felt the call to protect, just like most people here, but...” he shook his head, “philosophy...history -- the mechanics of the world--”

“/Yes/; it’s the best, isn’t it?” Midoriya smiled back.

The omega nodded. “It really is.”

The smile falling from his mouth a little, Midoriya sighed. “I know I’m just, as Bakugou put it, an emotionally-stunted, over-sized, big-dicked idiot with an inferiority complex, but...if you ever...you know,” he shrugged, “want to talk about things, I’m here.”

Iida smiled at him. “That’s a very kind offer.”

The door swung open, and a scowling Bakugou popped his head into the room. “What the hell are you two doing?”

Midoriya and Iida looked at each other, then over at Bakugou.

“Just talking.” Midoriya blinked at him. “Is something wrong?”

The blond sighed. “You /do/ realize dinner’s almost fucking over, right?”

“WHAT?” Iida jumped up from his chair. “That’d mean we were here for six hours, as opposed to five? It couldn’t possibly have been that long since I brought the alpha in here!”

Midoriya got to his feet. “I didn’t realize!”

“You idiots...” Bakugou rolled his eyes, then looked over to the right side of the room.

“We need to hurry, or we’ll be going hungry tonight!” Huffing, Iida rushed toward the door. “Come on, Alpha Midoriya!”

Smiling, Midoriya nodded, then started toward the door as well.

But Bakugou put a hand up at him. “Hold it, Big Stuff.”

“Hm?” After both he and Iida came to a stop, Midoriya cocked his head.

Pointing behind himself with his thumb, Bakugou jerked his head backwards. “Halfie got you a plate; it’s in your room.” He looked at Iida. “Looks like you’re on your own for dinner.”

“...Oh.” Iida looked up at Midoriya, then back at Bakugou and cleared his throat. “No matter.” Jutting his chin, he rolled his shoulders back.

“Hey, Iida.” Bakugou looked at Midoriya. “Go talk to Momo; she kind of had a rough day earlier.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened.

Blink. “I will. Thanks for informing me.” Iida turned to Midoriya, giving him a strained smile. “And thanks for all of your help today.”

Midoriya smiled. “You don’t have to thank me; it was so much fun! I hope we can talk again soon!”

The smile relaxed a bit. “Have a pleasant evening.”

“Thanks; you, too!”

Once they all left the office, Bakugou and Midoriya made their way across the courtyard of the citadel; it was busier than Midoriya was used to, which made his stomach twist a bit, but having Bakugou with him made it feel a bit safer.

“So,” Bakugou looked around as he spoke, “looks like you two were getting pretty friendly in there.”

Giving the ground a shy smile, Midoriya nodded. “Iida’s really nice. We had so much fun, talking.”

“Enough fun that you think he’d want to talk to you again?”

“Mm?” Midoriya shrugged. “I hope so.”

“Good. Halfie, Kiri, and I came up with something, and we need you to distract him for us.”

Midoriya looked at him. “/Distract/ him? But why?”

The blond rolled his eyes. “We want to get the book of tribal law without him knowing about it. That bastard may be annoying, but he isn’t stupid; we don’t want him having the chance to get ahead of us, just in case.”

“Ohh...” Midoriya nodded, then grabbed the back of his neck. “Makes sense.”

Bakugou glanced at him. “Think you could manage?”

//But that feels kind of...wrong.
And a little mean, too...//

“Mm.” After a swallow, Midoriya nodded again. “I-I think so.”

“You didn’t happen to slip in a few questions about tribal law and alphas, did you?”

He winced. “I...actually forgot all about that. We kind of got carried away, you know?”

Bakugou sighed. “Figures.”

“I’m sorry.” Midoriya pouted.

“Don’t worry about it. Your friend scored some major points for us today, anyway.” The blond looked up at him and grinned.

Blink, blink. “He did?”

Huffing a laugh, Bakugou looked forward, again. “I’ll tell you about it once we get back to the room.”

TBC