Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Good morning sleeping beauty!” Monoma announced to Shinsou when he finally woke up. The clock was ticking towards 10pm, though it was still a Friday. Bakugo and Kirishima had already gone home, so it was just Monoma and Aizawa in the room.

“Hm?” Shinsou asked when he finally shook off enough sleep to ask. He tried to sit up, but a hand quickly held him down.

“Take it easy, Hitoshi.” Aizawa stated. He was debating whether to call him kid or not, but that sounded weird. Jasper would almost always be ‘kid’ to Aizawa.

“Huh?” Hitoshi asked, though more coherently this time. He was trying to open his eyes, but quickly found it much more comfortable to keep them closed.

“Remember, the entrance exam? You have quirk exhaustion.” Monoma stated grimly. He'd probably be at his friend's house more than his own for the next few weeks.

“Oh.” Shinsou stated. The memories started flashing back to him, and he wondered how bad of a performance it was.

“You did well.” Aizawa stated, voice uncaring and lacking in emotion, unless you knew him. Shinsou most definitely knew him, and could tell the slight affection leaking into his tone.

“Yeah! You did something you've never done before, and totally nailed it. Definitely someone who came from our school.” Monoma stated.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Shinsou asked, his voice tired, though amused also.

“I actually don't know.” Monoma stated, voice flat. “It's supposed to mean our school is superior, but they're kinda jerks not gonna lie.” Monoma admitted.

“Yeah, they kinda are.” Shinsou admitted. He decided to open his eyes now despite his body's slightest protests.

“We're also allowed to take you home now.” Aizawa stated. “Hizashi was overlooking some of the playback records until you woke up.” Aizawa stated.

Shinsou slightly grimaced. He really hoped his performance wasn't that bad. I mean, he had brain washed three people at once. Hitoshi just hoped that he didn't look too villainous out there.

“Toshi, I can see the years grinding in your brain. None of that. You did really well.” Monoma stated.

“No, you can't.” Hitoshi dead-panned, probably trying to convince Monoma the same.

“Yes, I can, and you know it.” Monoma stated, no doubt in his voice.

“We'll talk about this later.” Aizawa gruffly stated. Right now, he wanted to get home, and maybe spend time with his husband before his stupid patrol. Of course he can't take it off, and no one's going to take it this late. “For now, let's get going.” Aizawa grabbed his phone, and sent a quick text to Hizashi, explaining the predicament.

“Maybe we can push back training by a few hours tomorrow.” Hitoshi said, trying to get up despite his mind's protest.

“Right. You're on bed rest for a week, and you can't train for a while.” Monoma remembered at that moment, and decided it'd be best if Hitoshi knew right now.

“You're joking.” Hitoshi shot back, voice uninterested, though he felt the opposite.

“No.” Aizawa stated back, hoping to alleviate some of his son's strong emotions for the moment. “You can still venture around the house, but Chiyo said lots of rest for at least a week.”

Shinsou stood, and finally realized how dizzy he was. His vision went black for a few seconds, and he realized Monoma was holding onto him. He flashed him a quick, but thankful smile while he righted himself again.

“I'm going to hate this.” Shinsou stated. “What about school? It's one of the last weeks.” Shinsou stated. (I'm much too lazy to search up how this worked in the anime, so please don't come at me if this is wrong:/)

“You'll have to stay home.” Aizawa reiterated some of the important tidbits of information from his private conversation with Chiyo. “And you can't do school work. You’d strain yourself too much.”

“I'm so going to fall behind.” Shinsou whined, squinting his eyes so less of the light could get in.

Chiyo walked in, clearly having heard voices from the room. “Good! You're awake! Here, take these.” Recovery Girl handed Shinsou some extremely dark, and extremely strong sunglasses.

“Thanks.” Shinsou put them on, immediately feeling some of the pressure alleviate in his head. The pounding headache was still there, but slightly better. I mean, he'd dealt with worse, so this wasn't too bad.

“Make sure he takes one of these every 6 hours. It'll help with the pain, and help him make a quicker recovery.” Chiyo handed a bottle of pills to Aizawa, who thanked her.

“The pain is not that bad.” Shinsou stated.

“Maybe you just have a ridiculously high pain tolerance.” Monoma looked at the purple-haired boy with a dangerous look, clearly hinting to the other two times he'd gotten hurt. He was walking around with a broken arm, and looked completely fine.

Shinsou looked away slightly, though he knew his boyfriend was right.

“Make sure he sleeps a lot! No bright lights, or sudden changes in lighting, you hear me? That includes movies, and anything on your phone." Recovery Girl stated, hitting her cane to the side of Aizawa. “If he feels better after a week, you can slowly start reintroducing him to those types of things, you got it? If he doesn't feel better after a week, come see me.” Recovery Girl stated.

“Thank you.” Aizawa replied. He saw what the woman had to deal with almost all of the time. He understood the woman greatly, probably because she was still working there when he went to school.

“I'm assuming you're spending the night?” Aizawa turned to Monoma.

“Yeah, if you guys don't mind. My parents already know.” Monoma stated.

“Good. You can watch Hitoshi when we can't.” Aizawa stated, leading the group out of the room. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Monoma was, in fact, helping Shinsou maneuver around the things he couldn't, which was good.

“That was the plan. This dummy would probably break almost all the rules tomorrow if I didn't help out.” Monoma scoffed, earning a glare from his significant other.

“Most likely.” Aizawa agreed, earning a glare from his son as well.

The three saw an exuberant Present Mic walking through the halls. Sometimes Monoma forgets that Present Mic also adopted Shinsou, considering the fact they're more like polar opposites.

“That was awesome, listener! You did amazing out there!” Yamada made sure to keep his voice down so it wouldn't irritate Hitoshi more. It was the loudest, yet the quietest Monoma had ever heard the man.

Shinsou looked up with an utterly confused, yet surprised look. “It wasn't that impressive.”

Yamada immediately lost his exuberance, looking at Shinsou with an intense, and grim look on his face. He moved in front of Shinsou, putting his hands on the purple-haired boy's shoulders. “Hitoshi, that was awesome. Don't let anyone or yourself tell you otherwise. Got it?”

“Um, sure..?” Shinsou stated. It was definitely an odd sight seeing Shinsou in such dark sunglasses, and Yamada with such an intense look on his face.

Hizashi returned to his normal, cheerful look, ready to herd the group out to the car.

“Also, way to use your resources Monoma!” Yamada complimented.

“It was obviously the best decision I could make.” Monoma scoffed. “I wouldn't have even had a chance otherwise.”

Shinsou started realizing how much his headache was actually starting to hurt, though he was able to ignore it for the most part.

“I'm tired.” Shinsou stated, too tired to care about not bothering anyone at this point. It was Hitoshi's problem, so he was now going to make it everyone else's problem as well.

“We better get home.” Aizawa stated, looking between the two. It had been a long day for them all, and they really wanted it to end. Maybe Aizawa could miss one shift. Probably not, considering he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. No point in wasting time like that.

“Yes please.” Shinsou asked, tempted to lean on Monoma. He would've if they weren't moving, but that clearly wasn't an option.

“Is anyone hungry?” Yamada asked. “We can quickly stop at a drive thru, or something.” He offered. He would offer to make something, but he'd probably burn the kitchen down in the meantime.

“Actually, yes.” Shinsou replied. “Coffee sounds good.”

“You wouldn't be very tired after that, and you need rest, so no coffee for the week!” Monoma teased, tempted to see the purple-haired boy's reaction.

“Way to kick a dog when it's already down.” Shinsou replied, though he held no malice.

“That would be similar to telling Nedzu to turn his quirk off. It's simply not possible.” Aizawa dead-panned.

“Exactly.” Shinsou replied, voice tired but playful.

“We really need to do something about that, don't we?” Nice turned to look at Monoma, or the other sane one currently.

“Yep.” Monoma popped the p.

“If you ever take my coffee away, expect to wake up in the dirt.” Aizawa stated. “6 feet under.”

Yamada turned his upper body around to the kids walking behind them.

“Do you see what I have to deal with?” Yamada whispered, though everyone in the group could hear it.

They made their way out to the couples car, Shinsou noting the fact that it was pitch black outside.

They agreed on a drive through, and all ordered something quick and easy to eat. Shinsou wanted to eat, and then pass out on his bed for the entirety of the night and the next day.

They all ate in the car while Yamada drove them back to the Yamazawa household.

“I'll take any garbage.” Aizawa huffed to the group as soon as they arrived. He held a plastic bag, which also contained his own garbage.

Both exhausted from the day, Hitoshi and Monoma handed their garbage up to the front.

Shinsou knew the commute to and from UA wasn't long, which is why he willed himself to stay awake. Leaning on Monoma was tempting, he'll admit.

Shinsou got out of the car, and Monoma followed shortly after. Together, they made their way into the house.

“I'm going straight to bed.” Shinsou said the moment he took his shoes off.

“Im going to borrow some of your clothes. I've been marinating in these all day. It's absolutely disgusting.” Monoma stated. “I'm going to force you to change your disgusting clothes as well. It's not healthy for you.” Monoma remarked, knowing Shinsou couldn't really argue against him right now.

“Fine.” Shinsou said, already leading Monoma up to his room.

“Here, take these. They should fit you.” Shinsou threw a pair of clothes to Monoma, who easily caught them with a smirk. He'd make anything and everything weird, though in a joking manner.

Shinsou found some clothes of his own, and felt much better once he changed. No one would know, though.

“I'm going straight to bed.” Shinsou stayed, making sure to take off his sunglasses before he laid down.

“I'm going to use the restroom. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone.” Monoma snarled, a grin on his face.

Shinsou huffed in reply, already cuddling up in his nice bed.

He barely heard Aizawa and Yamada come into his room, because by then he was almost fully asleep.

“Goodnight, Hitoshi. We're proud of you, no matter the outcome.” Yamada stated, though his voice was extremely quiet, barely above a whisper. “We love you, even if you don't know it.”

“.. Love you too..” Hitoshi mumbled, his words barely audible.

Hizashi beamed at the statement, clearly half to tears. Aizawa understood the man, though he showed no outer emotion himself. Hitoshi was their own now, and no one could tell them otherwise. Maybe Aizawa should convince Hitoshi to ask Jasper to join their family as well, though only if it's needed.

“Love.. You too, Dadzawa.” Hitoshi mumbled out, sleep embracing him with open arms.

Aizawa's eyes actually opened in surprise. He'd never think Hitoshi would've ever called either of them dad, or any synonyms of the sort. He did, however, see the sad look spill into the blonde man's eyes. Hizashi was happy for Aizawa, but loved Shinsou probably just as much.

“Love.. You too… Papamic.” And with that, Hitoshi was completely out.

Hizashi's eyes were actually sparkling now, and Aizawa didn't feel so far behind. He hadn't cried in a while, but his emotions rivaled that of his husband.

The two made their way outside, and back down to their own room. Adults still needed sleep after all, well, except for Aizawa.

Monoma snuck back into his significant others room, closing the door quietly. If anyone saw him recording the entire conversation, no one said otherwise. It was beautiful black mail, though he'd never use it as such.

He climbed into bed with Shinsou, noting the boy's extremely peaceful expression on his face.

It was going to be a good night's sleep, not just for Shinsou.

____

Izuku was now going back to bed from his patrol, which was amazing, though boring. He hadn't had much to do for a while, so he opted to run around, and burn his energy out. Maybe then he'd actually be able to sleep once he got back.

He crawled into bed right next to Denki, who didn't want to walk the whole distance back to his house. It was definitely reasonable, considering the late time. It was a Friday, so that meant they didn't need to get up, or really do anything the next day.

Izuku was able to fall asleep fairly quickly, save for the slight pressure in his head. He'd feel better tomorrow, as today was a pretty stressful day.

___

Izuku awoke in that same dream, sweat dripping down every part of his body. It felt the same, yet so different at the same time.

Izuku quickly realized he was in a dream, and tried to feel everything before he couldn't. He knew this dream all too well, though he wouldn't admit it.

This time, the dream felt more rushed. More in a hurry to get over, though Izuku had no clue why.

His clothes were perfectly clean, though they reeked of smoke. Not cigarette smoke, but something.. Different. Sinister, almost.

Izuku looked around, the familiar halls of his house, was it his house?, on either side of him. Instead of feeling like other dreams had in the past where they maintained their shape for a while, these were already bending and melting.

This couldn't be right? Could it? This all felt too fast, too hurried, and extremely hasty.

Izuku saw the walls fall and collapse around him, forming another maze. This time, it was different. The walls weren't made of identical greenery like before, but they were checkered this time. Greenery or bushes were used in mazes to confuse an enemy, and hopefully keep them inside. A simple black and white pattern, which could also cause memory loss from what Izuku knew. (Pretend this is true)

Izuku saw the mirror, and noted down his thoughts while he still could. He could feel the familiar sludge, or fog start its way into his mind and muscles, so he needed to finish everything fast.

The mirror was still there, floating in the middle of the opening it was in. Beyond it, the hallway faded into grey, and then into black, seemingly going on forever.

Izuku tried to remember everything about the dream, due to the fog growing ever closer to his mind. For some reason, he wasn't scared. Normally he would be, but now, all he felt was determination to get out. Run.

Hopefully Denki was still sleeping, so he wouldn't cause any more distress than he wanted to. There wasn't any reason to worry about Izuku; when he woke up he was completely fine.

Izuku looked into the mirror, and his figure looked different, younger, somehow. Maybe he was three this time? He didn't really remember much before the age of five, except for all of his happy memories with his mom, and his ‘friends'.

“Come now, Izuku.”

Izuku heard the same voice as before calling out to him. This time, he wore an innocent tone, though it still sent shivers down Izuku's spine. I mean, what voice from your dreams/nightmares wouldn't scare you?

Izuku felt it move itself into his mind and muscles, much like a parasite of sorts. He felt his muscles start to tighten up, and he felt himself start to freeze up.

His mind started freezing up; his knowledge and memories now unavailable to him.

Okay, now Izuku was starting to get scared, though his mind couldn't really process it. He willed himself to move, to do anything.

“Sorry, that really isn't in the bags for you.” The voice called out.

With his last ounce of brain power he had left, he figured out why the voice sounded like it did. He was obviously trying to use some sort of manipulation tactic to make his voice sound as sweet as candy, but it still held that same fear-inducing undertone.

“Why don't you walk over here? That would make this so much easier.” The voice chuckled, and before Izuku knew it, his body was slowly starting to move. He wasn't even commanding it! How, what?

“Ah! That's more like it!” The figure called out. Izuku could decipher his finger sticking out, and bending. It held that position, muscles clearly engaged. It seemed this man was the one controlling him, moving his body without his consent.

Izuku willed his body to stop, to follow his commands.

“We don't want more trouble, do we?” The way the man's tone was so sickeningly sweet made Izuku want to throw up.

Izuku didn't know what he was doing, and didn't know how to move forward. He couldn't- what was..?

Izuku, with one decisive command, sent an entire shockwave throughout the dream world, breaking multiple items and walls.

He started crumbling in on himself, everything too difficult to bear.

His breathing became labored, molten lava coursing into his lungs. Since when could he breathe?

“Ugh, of course you have to make things difficult. No matter.” The presence waved his hand dismissively, not caring that he was basically made of smoke. “We'll succeed either way.”

Izuku looked toward the mirror again. Though it was cracked, he saw himself clear as day. His organs and blood were melting down, and his bones remained.

Izuku watched the sight, fully this time. A sad feeling coursed through him, though the organs needed were on the ground.

“We'll see each other again. After all, this is only attempt number four.” The man stated slyly. He held no doubt in his voice whatsoever, and that scared Izuku the most. What was happening to him?

Izuku watched as the man dissipated, though the world remained a little while longer.

Izuku kept looking at the mirror, and watched his slow-moving organs fall down his body.

His blood was quick to fall down, and was already in a puddle by his feet, considering the fact that it's liquid. It did however, leave slight blood stains on his bones, which was plain weird to Izuku.

Watching as his organs slid down into a pile beneath him, Izuku was almost in a trance-like state now that the presence was gone.

His bones started crumpling and cracking, just slight enough to be noticed. Izuku watched as his bones started disintegrating, falling to the floor in bouts of ash, and tiny pieces.

Soon, Izuku was just a presence standing there, looking at his body which lay before him.

It was definitely one of the weirdest feelings Izuku had ever felt. The fear washed over him, like a bucket of water was poured over him. As his vision went black, a feeling of euphoria washed over him, replacing the emptiness the fear left.

He returned to the black, empty void, aka his subconscious.

“Kid, you can't let him get that far next time. You need to find a way to beat him!”

Izuku was teleported back into his body, waking with a gasp as he did. He immediately sat up, gasping for breath.

“Izuku!” Kaminari rushed to hug his friend, because what else are you supposed to do in that situation?

“I.. My notebook.” Was the only coherent thought Izuku was able to muster up. He reached to his dresser, and grabbed the notebook which held all the other entries about his nightmares. Izuku would've written in any one, and then regret it later, so it was good that one was there.

Denki broke from the hug, still trying to comfort his boyfriend in any way he could.

Izuku furiously wrote, trying to keep himself together as he did. It was sort of melodic, in a way. He strained to keep a certain rhythm on how he was writing, but was able to keep it up.

“What was that?” Denki asked, seeing that his boyfriend was writing it down. He assumed it must be important somehow, so he asked.

Izuku muttered to himself, trying to distract himself from the odd figures in the room.

Denki took the silence as a sign that Izuku didn't want to talk, so he maintained the quiet. Though he was still holding an arm around Izuku's shoulders, trying to help ground him, and offer him support to whatever it was.

It was about 10 minutes, and 2 pages later, where Izuku felt like he had enough about his dream, and decided to update about the figures standing and looming in his room.

Before, only one would follow Izuku around his house, but it was easy enough to ignore. They did tend to leave when he went outside of the apartment complex, which was odd to Izuku. Now, there were two completely identical figures, and they would probably do the same thing.

About 3 minutes later, Izuku finally felt like he had enough information.

He needed something to do. Something to distract him from all of the noise, from all of the overwhelming emotions. He'd eventually bottle them up, just like he always did. Maybe this wasn't something he wanted Denki to see, but it was whatever.

I mean, he couldn't go back to sleep. Not after that dream. It was terrible, but at the same time made Izuku feel nothing. Empty.

He didn't know how to feel about everything. He didn't really know how to properly feel. It couldn't be too bad, or hard. He didn't know how to process emotions, or really anything of the sorts.

Izuku started coming to a realization about that fact, though he really didn't want to. Denki would probably hate him because of the spectacular performance he put on. Just great! Something was happening to Izuku, and he really didn't know what or how! And now Denki would probably hate him. This is why Izuku didn't want to tell him in the first place! He'd get creeped or weirded out, and then he'd leave! Just like-.

Izuku's vision started going black, and he let it. He didn't really care right now. He didn't really think there was anything worth living for right now, and there surely wasn't any point in fighting to keep his vision. No one would want him now, not after everything wrong with him.
Not even his mother had wanted him! She left him, which was probably the best choice. Why did she leave Izuku?

Why did she-

“-zuku!”

Izuku felt his shoulders shake, though it probably wasn't Denki. With his luck, it'll be the sleep paralysis demons, or maybe death itself. Maybe he could go peacefully, in his sleep or something. That would be pretty nice right now. No one would care. Himiko would get into UA and make other friends, Touya had Hawks and Himiko, and his friends had each other. Aizawa probably hated him, so that didn't really matter. It did hurt his heart to think about, but it was the plain old truth. Nothing Izuku couldn't wrap his head around.

“Izuku! God dammit-!” Izuku heard Denki yell, but it was probably because of his stupidity. Most likely another thing he did wrong. Something else that Izuku couldn't do right. He should start keeping a tally at this point. He couldn't keep a tally if he was dead, though.

Izuku felt something close the space between his face. Maybe it was death itself, knocking on his doorstep.

Izuku didn't even see it coming. (Maybe it's because your vision is black) He felt the softness of something press against his lips, which quickly dispersed air throughout his system. He felt a few more breaths push into his lungs, slowly allowing his vision and breath to come back. Izuku realized he hadn't been breathing for the majority of this whole fiasco, which did not feel great on his lungs.

Quickly taking in breaths, Izuku realized his knees were against his head, and his arms were wrapped around them. Since when had he moved to this position.

Once Izuku felt like his breathing was back to normal, a blush spread across his face as he realized what exactly just happened.

“D-.. Did you just..?” Izuku asked, voice shaking than he'd like it to be.

“Yes. Are you back with us?” Denki asked, concern lacing his entire existence.

“I-um. Think so.”

“Good. Do you need anything?” Denki asked, trying to help his boyfriend as best he could. He tried to keep his mind off of what he just did, because he wouldn't be able to properly function after that.

“No-” Izuku was about to quickly refuse anything, though water sounded immaculate right now.

“I can tell you're lying.” Denki said, trying to help his friend trust him.

Izuku allowed the silence to stretch on for a little bit, until his dry throat became too much to bear.

“W-water. Please.” Izuku stated, voice quiet.

Denki immediately got up, and walked to grab some from the kitchen. He returned shortly, a glass of water in his left hand, and a large water bottle completely full in the other.

“Thank you.” Izuku beamed at the sheer amount of water, prepared to down it almost completely.

He chugged the cup of water, and a quarter of the water bottle.

“Do you need anything else?” Denki asked, ready to help his friend in any way right now.

Izuku saw the figures in his room start to flicker out of existence, until they were no more. For the first time, he felt like he could talk and move freely.

“N-no.” Izuku struggled out, the emotions of the past few hours starting to weigh down on him. Oh how desperately he wanted to hug Denki right now.

Denki could feel the nerves radiating off of the greenie. He wanted to help, but had few ideas. Maybe idea one Denki made would work.

Denki encased Izuku in a hug, allowing his boyfriend room to leave if he wanted.

Izuku, obviously exhausted, collapsed into his boyfriend's arms. Tears ran freely, though Izuku tried to hold them in.

“I'm not going to force you to tell me what happened.” Denki stated, not knowing how else to say it.

“I-” Izuku didn't know how to bring it up. He obviously wanted to tell him, but didn't really know how else to. Words weren't wording, so when that happened, Izuku wrote.

Izuku, still encased in Denki's hug, grabbed his notebook, and flipped to the correct page.

“Read this.” Izuku handed Denki the book, and unfortunately for Izuku Denki had to hold him with only one arm. Oh well, he still basked in the closeness they shared.

Denki took a few minutes to fully read everything Izuku wrote, and his face went through various different emotions. Luckily for him, Izuku couldn't see his facial expressions.

He finished reading through the first time it happened when Izuku finally found his words. He was still actively crying, if the wet spot on Denki was any indication.

“This is the fourth time.” Izuku mentioned, voice weak.

“Your heart didn't stop this time. Or I didn't notice it.” Denki stated, holding Izuku tighter than before. “Why didn't you tell me?” Denki's voice was soft, softer than Izuku had ever heard it before.

“I didn't want you to worry about me..” Izuku stated, voice too quiet for Denki's liking.

“Izuku, this is a worrying subject. I want to know about these things so I can help you.” Denki rubbed little circles on Izuku's back, which he hoped was comforting.

“I.. Thought you'd hate me..” Izuku admitted, burying himself further into the blonde, who wondered how it was possible.

“Izuku, I could never hate you. You're brave, strong, determined, and ethereal.” Denki quickly stated, leaving absolutely no room for argument.

“You.. You really think so..?” Izuku asked, tilting his head up to look his boyfriend in the eyes. His eyes were glossy, but with happy tears this time.

“Do you think I would've basically saved you otherwise?” Denki asked, clearly forgetting about his actions earlier. Maybe he'd just ignore the fact that happened.

A blush immediately arose in Izuku's cheeks as he remembered the earlier events. He crushed his head back into Denkis, hoping the boy hadn't seen his face.

“Hey! I did that to save you! I wouldn't have done it otherwise! Not without your consent, at least.” Denki admitted. I mean, duh?

“Denki!” Izuku shoved the blonde down into the bed, though they were still encased in each other's arms.

“Hey! I'm joking! Unless you don't want me to be!” Denki exclaimed, earning an embarrassed look from Izuku.

Izuku realized he couldn't let Denki get all of the smart lines, and besides, it was the perfect distraction to push his feelings and thoughts down even further.

“I mean, to be fair your lips were pretty soft.” Izuku laid his head on Denki's shoulders, finding comfort in the boy.

Denki immediately blushed, definitely not expecting the cute, innocent cinnamon roll to say something as grotesque as that.

“Cat got your tongue?” Izuku asked, jokingly instigating his boyfriend. Maybe he did miss that feeling, just a little bit.

Izuku looked up at the boy's completely pink cheeks, feeling his own blush creep in.

“I- um.” Denki tried to talk, but was clearly too flustered to make coherent sentences.

Denki felt his heart start to race, his face itching for Izukus. He felt so selfish right now, considering the previous state of Izuku. The guilt ate through him, though he couldn't control his feelings.

Denki started to realize just how close they were, and how far away their faces were from one another.

Izuku shifted his head to the side, so he was directly over Denki's heart.

“Are you nervous? I can hear your heart speeding up.“ Izuku mused, deciding to push his problems down even lower. Besides, quality time with Denki was good, right?

Denki immediately tensed up, feeling the need to move Izuku the slightest bit closer to him.

“I'm right.” Izuku stated, a smirk on his face. He obviously pushed his own nervousness down, and instead opted for his fake confidence to sleep into him.

Oh wow. Who knew two words could do so much to a person. Denki was now a complete mess, trying to find words but failing. His face was now beet red, and his hands were closed tightly around Izuku.

“You're going to need to stop me soon-” Denki tried to argue with Izuku before he found words wouldn't come out of his mouth. Neither would air, for that matter.

Izuku couldn't really control himself that well at the time, so of course he made the irrational decision.

Izuku pulled up after a few seconds, quickly realizing his mistake. “Sor-” he didn't get a singular word in.

Denki pulled Izuku back down, clearly having been waiting for a good time. The opening was made perfectly for him when Izuku took the initiative, though.

It lasted about 20 seconds before they broke, looking at each other in a new but almost better light.

“I've kinda always wanted to do that.” Denki looked away slightly, clearly embarrassed by his confession.

“I guess.. I guess I never thought about it.” Izuku admitted, laying his head down on Denki's shoulder. “I never really knew I needed it till it actually happened.”

Denki laughed, relieved that everything worked out in the end.

“I love you, Zuku.”

“I love you too.”

The two quickly fell asleep, still entwined in each other's arms.

____

Izuku awoke, still emotionally exhausted from the previous night. He looked over at the clock from his position on top of Denki, which hadn't changed from the night before. It was around 11am, and Izuku didn't think he could sleep that long before. It definitely felt weird not waking up at the butt crack of dawn, and then working out.

The memories from the previous night started flooding back to Izuku when the sleep wore off. He felt very compelled to leave his boyfriend's arms, but the tight grip around him said otherwise. So Izuku laid there, face pink with last night's memories deciding to stay for a while.

Izuku kept his mind distanced from anything regarding his dream last night, probably so he wouldn't break again. That was embarrassing, and he wished Denki never would've seen it, or see it again.

Izuku felt weird so close to Denki, but it was a nice type of closeness. And since Denki was asleep, Izuku didn't really have to move for the time being. Though another part of him wanted to completely run away to the bathroom so his emotions could properly filter themselves out.

Izuku sighed, and decided to grab his phone from the nightstand, and maybe doomscroll for a while until Denki woke up. That might be a while.

Izuku hadn't used his phone for social media, or really anything of the sorts for a while, so he wondered what would be there.

Izuku looked at some of his notifications, and decided to scroll through the many from his news app. Most of those things didn't interest Izuku, but sometimes the information is extremely useful to him and his nightly activities.

Most of it was already old news to him. Queen Bee's sudden arrest, a few of the guys he took in, etc.

That was until Izuku stumbled on one that planted a definite pit in his stomach.

He'd managed to arrest the villain known as Tomura Shigaraki, but he escaped a while ago. How had he not seen this earlier? I mean, Shigaraki was a low-level villain, but it still wasn't good. Hopefully he'd be able to find him, and arrest him again.

Izuku continued scrolling through his phone, completely forgetting about a certain fiasco that happened a week ago.

He stumbled upon a news article, not thinking too much about it when it said local villain attack, or something like that. Izuku still wasn't fully awake, so he didn't really read too much into it. That was until he saw a picture of him right before he smacked the sludge villain. It was almost euphoric in a way, if it wasn't in a news article.

Izuku knew the vultures had been around, but just how many? Izuku didn't really remember, but it couldn't have been many, right? I mean, he was just a simple vigilante! He didn't do that much. He just saved his friend, that's all. Nothing special.

Izuku opened up Google, and decided to see if there were any more articles about him, though he expected and hoped there were none.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Izuku saw over 67 articles pop up immediately, and many more below.

Izuku gulped, and clicked on the most popular one. Luckily he didn't say his name out loud, so no one knew exactly who he was. Just the vigilante who helped, which was really good for Izuku's sake.

He didn't really know how to react yet. I mean, they were probably talking about how he could've done more, could've done better, and how the pros had it covered. As long as Katsuki was okay, it was worth it. He'd do that to save any of his friends.

“Vigilante saves the day! Who is it?”

Izuku thought that heading was pathetic, though at least it didn't contain his name. It would probably appeal to the public, though.

“The public complain as heroes stand by at a local villain attack. People are uproaring as an unknown and unidentified vigilante saves the day, successfully saving a middle school student, and taking the villain down.”

Izuku looked at the summary paragraph, and had to read through it a few more times to fully understand the weight of it. People.. Were upset at the heroes there?

Izuku scrolled through the full article, and was shocked to see the structure and description of it. They were almost describing him as some sort of.. Hero? He wasn't, and he would never be. No school would ever take a quirkless person, regardless of skill.

Izuku didn't really notice as Denki started to stir and wake, clearly almost having the same reaction as Izuku when he first woke up.

Izuku looked over, and noticed Denki was ‘awake’. (He was currently questioning who he was, where he was, what was going on, and many other basic questions)

Izuku looked at Denki, then back at his phone, eyes slightly wider than they normally were.

“Did you know about this?” Izuku asked, voice full of surprise.

Denki took a good 30 seconds to process everything, and Izuku held the phone in front of his face while he did.

“Oh, the articles?” Denki yawned slightly, doing his best to hide it but utterly failing. “Yeah. I read most of them.” Denki smiled, trying to slide back into his flirty mood to cover his nervousness due to how close they were. “They call you a true hero.”

“Wh-but! I'm not a hero, and I never will be.” Izuku forced out, trying to understand why they called him that.

Denki luckily sensed the tension in his boyfriend, and sat them up. “They call you a hero because you didn't hesitate to race in and save Bakugo from the sludge villain.” Normally Denki would've argued that Izuku deserved to be a hero, and attend UA, but now was most definitely not a good time for that.

“Oh..” Izuku stated, still hugging Denki with one arm while he was holding his phone in the other. “I guess that makes sense..” Izuku stated.

“I guess I should've expected something like that.” Izuku laughed slightly, trying to alleviate some of his nerves.

“You never know with the media and public.” Denki agreed, though he was worried about his significant other.

Izuku laughed at that, happy to have his boyfriend there with him.

“Anyways, I think I'm going to start on breakfast. What do you want?” Izuku asked, using anything to distract himself from the dream last night.

“What do you have?” Denki asked.

Izuku winced slightly. “Not.. Much. I have to go shopping soon. I will be buying a coffee pot to feed my addiction.” Izuku stated. “I have some rice left, some eggs, and bread for toast. I also have peanut butter for peanut butter toast.” Izuku listed off. Most days he had that, so he didn't really need much else for breakfast.

“Peanut butter toast sounds good. Thank you!” Denki quickly hugged Izuku, already planning on something for after they were done eating. “I have to use the bathroom now.” Denki immediately got up, and basically ran to the bathroom.

Izuku laughed at the sight before getting up, and making toast for the both of them.

Denki came out after a few minutes, hair slightly more tamed.

Izuku set the plates down, and joined Denki at the table. He moved his chair to sit directly next to him, as it felt better for his emotional health at the moment.

“Dang, this is pretty good!” Denki exclaimed, eating the toast with care and caution. (He really didn't want to get peanut butter anywhere)

“I know, right? It's my go-to breakfast almost every morning. Other than coffee, obviously.” Izuku stated, wishing he had any coffee at all right now, though black is preferable.

The two had light conversation until they finished. Izuku took the plates and washed them, then put them into the drying rack.

“Izuku.” Denki started as soon as Izuku sat down. He didn't really know how to broach the subject, so he went for it anyway.

“Yeah?” Izuku answered back, curious.

“What happened last night? With your dream and everything.” Denki let that sit-in for a few seconds before adding, “I won't force you to tell me anything.”

“It was nothing, really. It's happened before, so it's nothing completely new.” Izuku's fake smile was pulled tight, not exactly wanting to talk about the subject much.

“Izuku.” Denki put his hands over Izukus, trying to help him understand what he was trying to say. “That was not nothing.” De ki knew he wouldn't be able to help him if he kept up the serious mood, so he tried to lighten it a little with a slight half-joke. “I'm now making this your mandatory therapy session.” Denki laughed slightly.

“Denks, I don't thin-”

“I want to help you. You're clearly pushing whatever is bothering you down, and I can't help if I don't know. I won't force you to tell me anything.” Denki said.

“I-” Izuku started. “I don't want to drag you into my problems.” Izuku stated, trying to subtly change the subject.

“I don't care about that. I care about you and your health.” Denki didn't really know he had the emotional capacity for this, but he pushed through regardless.

“It's nothing, really.” Izuku felt like he might break yet again if Denki didn't drop it. He had to do this on his own. No one else could help him, and Izuku knew that. He'd only be dragging Denki further and further down his own rabbit hole.

“I don't think so.” Denki calmly stated, trying to help his friend. That Google search the other night had been helping slightly, but the overall outcome was decided by Izuku. “I won't force you to tell me.”

Izuku was definitely debating the offer, a variety of emotions displayed on his face.

“I will not hate you after.” Denki made sure to put extra emphasis on not, considering he knew that was one of Izuku's fears.

“I.. Can't drag you into it.” Izuku grimly stated, feeling the tears starting to bubble in his eyes. Guess he didn't cry them all out last night.

“I don't care about that. I care about you.” Denki forced Izuku to look up, and at his concerned face.

Denki saw the scared and unsure face on Izuku, so he did what any logical person would. He stood both of them up, and hugged Izuku tightly in a nice, big, bear hug.

Izuku's dam broke, and the water came falling freely from his eyes. He hugged his boyfriend tighter, maybe a little bit tighter than he should've, but the comfort felt simply immaculate.

“Cry it all out.” Denki started, rocking them slightly in an attempt to comfort Izuku. “I'll still love you after.”

After a while of crying, Izuku finally felt ready enough to start talking about stuff. He would make sure not to tell Denki too much, so he wouldn't put him in any danger of sorts.

“It's… scary sometimes, you know?” Izuku started, feeling the longing for someone to listen. He hadn't had that since he was nine, but even then he didn't tell his mom everything.

“It's okay to be scared. I'm scared a lot, actually.” Denki laughed in an attempt to help lighten the mood, and maybe share some of his own secrets/personal stuff. He shouldn't expect Izuku to do all the talking.

Izuku laughed slightly at that, still holding onto Denki's slender but strong frame. He felt so weak right now. He'd just have to train longer, or patrol longer.

“The dreams.. I don't know what they mean.” Izuku knew he gave hit notebook to Denki to read through, but if he remembered correctly Denki only read through the first and maybe second time it happened.

“They sound scary to me.” Denki put his two cents in, hoping he would be able to provide some sort of comfort for Izuku.

“The figure.. Or presence,” Izuku started, voice much shakier and weaker than he would've liked. “Knows my name. I don't know If these are just my imagination or not..”

“I'll help you through them when I can.” Denki stated.

“Th-thanks. Though I don't want you to waste your ti-”

Denki pulled his head back, and placed a finger on Izuku's lips, promptly stopping his ramble. “I'd be wasting my time if I didn't.”

“O-okay..” Izuku trailed off, hoping his boyfriend was telling the truth.

“The.. S-second time it happened.. I was awake. The pain from the headache knocked me unconscious, and then the dream started.” Izuku explained. For some reason, the more he said, the better and worse he felt.

Denki hugged Izuku extra tight. “I.. I wish I could've been there. I'm sorry.” Denki felt the pain course through him, though not physical pain, hurt equally as much.

“I don't think you would've liked to explain to Eraser head how exactly you know me.” Izuku laughed, imagining the conversation between the two. “You wouldn't have made it out of there alive until you told him who I was.” Izuku laughed.

“Wait, wasn't that the guy in the room with us for Shinsou?” Denki asked, the pieces starting to click together.

“Yup. We patrol together a lot.” Izuku admitted, enjoying the comfort and warmth radiating off of Denki.

“He’s.. Interesting. To me, at least.” Denki admitted.

Izuku laughed at that, not exactly wanting to return to the previous subject, but not exactly not wanting to either.

“You said you were awake when it started happening?” Denki asked, mentally noting everything. He could actually act intellectually advanced when he wanted to. Or more so, when his brain allowed him.

“Yeah. It started as slight pressure in my head, then advanced to a debilitating migraine. I passed out because of the pain.” Izuku explained.

“You were okay after that, right? Denki hastily asked.

Izuku laughed at Denki's antics. Denki made it feel like everything he felt was valid, no matter what, even if his feelings weren't valid.

“Yes. Aizawa had Recovery Girl check me over, and she found nothing.” Izuku explained.

“The third time it happened, the figure acted weirder. He said something like, “This is only the third attempt, after all.” Izuku gulped a little bit at the thought. “He said something similar last night, except he said the 4th attempt instead of the third.”

“That's seriously creepy. I'd be shaking just thinking about it.” Denki admitted. That was seriously terrifying, and Denki didn't know how Izuku handled it four times.

“Yeah.” Izuku admitted.

“Do you have any idea what it might be?” Denki asked.

“It's possible my mind created it due to stress or anxiety or something. That's what my research said, at least.” Izuku admitted. “It might be caused by my hallucinations, but I'm not sure.”

“Hallucinations.?” Denki asked. This might be a lot worse than Denki thought, and he wished he would've done this sooner.

“Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you.” Izuku stated grimly. Now that Denki got him going, it felt so good to talk about everything. He felt like he couldn't stop explaining everything, though he didn't want to drag Denki into the situation. It also felt so good to finally have someone know about everything, though he'd never admit it.

“A lot of the time there's a black, foggy figure following me around. He kinda leaves sometimes when I leave the apartment complex, so that's good. That one's easy enough to ignore. Sometimes when I'm out patrolling, I'll see different figures. One, which I searched up, is called Teke Teke. She's an old Japanese urban legend from the pre-quirk era.” Izuku explained.

“Sometimes I see other figures, but I don't know what they are. The sleep paralysis ones are the worst.” Izuku didn't know how he was able to explain it so easily, but he did somehow.

Denki inhaled a quick, and sharp breath, clearly not expecting that. “Is.. Is one here right now?”

“Surprisingly it left last night, and hasn't come back since. I finally feel like a person.” Izuku exclaimed.

“That's.. Good.” Denki didn't really know how else to say anything, so he decided on that.

“Yeah.” Izuku mused. “You already read the details of my dream, so I don't need to explain that.” Izuku mentioned.

“Please, tell me if this happens again. I want to be there to help you.” Denki asked. “Either way, thank you for telling me all of this.” Denki hugged Izuku the slightest bit tighter.

“Thank you for forcing me but also not forcing me to tell you. I feel.. Better, somehow.”

“Just know, I'm always here to listen.” Denki and Izuku continued to sway, keeping the comforting rhythm.