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Tenya didn’t have a well-rested sleep since the encounter with Stain in Hosu; every time he tried to sleep nightmares of any kind would surface and wake him up all sweaty and with his left arm hurting, where Stain’s knifes injured him when protecting Shouto, a choice he won’t ever regret.
The nightmares that occurred to him where always pictures of his brother severely injured on his death-bed, Midoriya blocked because of Stain’s quirk and bloody from head to toe and Todoroki without an arm because he was to late in saving him and kicking away the villain’s blade.
When this occurred, which equals to every night, he would get up and continue some school work, study some materials, read a book or simply sitting on his bed wrapped up like a burrito in his soft and warm blanket, watching the night sky until dawn—drifting apart from reality and thinking all sorts of stuff.
He talked about this matter with no one, but a certain dual-haired person noticed slight change in his demeanour that others wouldn’t catch upon if not by observing Iida very attentively.
First of all, his energetic behaviour shifted a little becoming more tired; he didn’t stop moving his arms around or raising his voice to be respected in a particular way, but those same actions were a little more drained than before.
Second of all, his appearance remained the same, but Todoroki could notice some eye bags becoming a little more darker each week passes by, even if he noticed a little bit of primer, maybe to hide said eye bags from being noticed by the naked eye.
Another change he saw was Iida’s tendency to drift off a little during some subject hours, like Mathematics or English, but he would always get focused on the point.
A month later, the teachers and principal Nezu decided to send the hero course in a training camp of a week to train their quirks in an open space with no troubles; everyone was super excited (besides Bakugou, Tokoyami and Todoroki who didn’t show any kind of opinion).
The first day, or to be more exact, afternoon, was calm because class 1-A, after the run in the forest and fighting earth monsters, cooked curry with rice and went to sleep after a warm bath. Sadly, Iida woke up the night and stared at the ceiling until someone woke them up to start breakfast so they could eat all together.
The second day was a little more eventful since they all divided into little groups or stayed individually to master up their quirks – Tenya ran and ran for a while and then went somewhere he could be alone to pull out his engines to strengthen them more, a very painful procedure that Tensei told him about.
The pain that he felt by pulling out his engines was extreme, but at least he could focus on this procedure than memories of a certain occurrence.
When he returned with everyone to take baths, he felt weaker because of the heat that was produced in there, so he decided to head back in the dormitory room alone; everyone else didn’t suspect a thing actually agreeing a little with his statement, but Todoroki looked at Iida with a preoccupied expression on his face, thinking that it was a little weird.
Iida, on that night tried his very best, giving all his plus ultra in sleeping, but that didn’t acquire at all and stressed him, so he decided to exit the dormitory so he could get some fresh air and explore the night sky; Aizawa was supposed to keep guard until a certain hour of the night and thank goodness Iida came out when the guarding hours closed.
Seeing the white spots everywhere in the sky, inhaling fresh air in his lungs, taking in the timid wind that occurred seldom, calmed Iida’s nerves entirely; he knew that nature had its healing attributes, but didn’t know until what point until today. He sat down on the stairs and focused his sight on the top of the trees, watching the leaves that decorated them dancing softly along the shininess of the stars.
At a certain point in his state of calmness and tranquillity he heard steps behind him that spook him so he immediately turned around, just to see Shouto Todoroki standing with a blanket wrapped on his shoulders and a sleepy expression.
“I didn’t see you in your futon, so I started searching for you; I thought you might be in the bathroom but after a while I started worrying so, here I am” explained Todoroki while approaching him and sitting besides him.
“I am truly sorry, Todoroki-kun, it was not my intention to wake you up or worrying you in any way possible” responded Iida whispering and facing him after sitting himself back to his original position.
“It’s fine, you don’t have to apologise…”
After Todoroki’s answer, they fell in a nice silence that wasn’t as awkward as many might think; Iida tried to talk to Todoroki, but didn’t really know what to say when he got the idea to just go back alongside his classmate in the dormitory room where everyone else is sleeping, but he got beat by Todoroki who asked “I know it might be a little insensible from me, but I noticed that you have eye bags showing, so I assumed you haven’t slept for a while now… Do you have trouble sleeping, perhaps?”
Iida was a little shocked about his question because, frankly speaking, he thought he did a good job hiding any sight of tiredness present on his body, but he must have been wrong about it.
Before he could answer, Todoroki added while looking at him “Well… you don’t have to tell me if you don’t wish to”.
“Oh, it’s not that Todoroki-kun, really… it’s just that I don’t really know how to phrase it- No, scratch that, I actually know how to but… it’s not that I don’t trust you, don’t take it the wrong way, but I think that it’s kind of silly” explained Iida in a rapid way and Todoroki waited until the end.
“Whatever reason that keeps you up at night, I don’t think it’s going to be silly or not, it must mean that something shocked you to the core or you experienced another strong feeling towards it…”
“Thank you, Todoroki-kun. I have to say that… the things that keep me up at night are nightmares. These nightmares occurred after our encounter with Stain… each nightmare has a different setting, but it’s always about the same ending of somebody’s or my own death; the ones that make me more turbulent are yours, Midoriya and big brother’s death… I know it sound crude and that you’re actually alive and safe, but I just can’t get these imagines out of my head.” Finished explaining Iida and after a little while, he felt two strong arms wrapped around his body.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this Iida… I couldn’t have imagined this might happen to you.” he looked in Iida’s face and said “If you want to, whenever you feel like sleeping you can call me and I will give you my hand so you can feel that I am fine. Or Midoriya, if you want to tell him as well” suggested Todoroki and it didn’t sound half-bad in Iida’s opinion, but he didn’t want to burden the person in front of him.
“We can try… but I don’t want to burden you in anyway Todoroki-kun” responded Iida and Todoroki immediately said “It’s not going to be a burden at all, really. I wouldn’t have suggested it other ways” and after telling him that, he got up and took Iida’s hand in his own bringing up on his feet. “We can now head back in the dormitory, right? It’s cold for you to stay here for longer.”, and with that the two boys got back in the room with futons and positioned themselves in their respective spaces which were one near the other.
Iida took Todoroki’s hand and tried sleeping after bidding good wishes of night. After weeks of no sleep, Iida finally got himself hours of sleep with no intrusive nightmares at all, resulting in Todoroki’s suggestion a total victory.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was two months later, and the two boys still continued to hold hands in their sleep, mostly to help Iida.
At first, as they both knew, it was just to help Iida, but after a while it became an occurrence that must be done that both enjoyed.
Thanks to this change, their relationship changed for the better, bringing in both souls a strong feeling of love and belonging. Todoroki knew he might have feelings for the class president, but he was certain after a week of them holding hands, hearing Iida’s soft laughter, watching his serious expression while studying, his devotion in everything he did and so many more aspects.
Iida was the same as Todoroki, finding himself staring at the dual-haired boy while their physical training, infatuated by his soft and small smile that appeared in rare occasions, his warmth and so many more aspects.
They both decided to confess to one another and when the confession happened, they both giggled at the fact that they were so coordinated for one another.