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The blanket lay bunched up on the floor next to his bed; Izuku hadn’t seen the use in picking it up. Why should he, when moving will only make his bones creak and groan, when the cloth will not provide the comfort it is meant to? So weightless and constricting- The clock across the room reads 3:26, only a mere half hour past when he had fallen asleep. His toes are cold, but he makes no move to warm them, he’s used to it, it’s familiar.
For a moment, Izuku considers moving. But no, it would disturb this silence built up around him, and he doesn’t wish to acknowledge the world right now. He doesn’t wish to feel the bed sheets beneath him, or see the lines of his room in the dark, or hear anything. He wants to stop existing. Who knows how long he could go without speaking or moving before anyone noticed, before anyone worried. Maybe they never would, and life would go on as usual, letting him drift into the background. It’s always better that way, attention means pain, so attention is something he's learned to hate.
Izuku also hates doing anything halfway. But it’s necessary, in this moment, that he take half a breath, it’s crucial that he remains silent, just incase he isn’t alone.
He lies. Still and silent as if he believes he could fade away into nothingness, dissolve into dust, let himself glide along the air until it seems he had never existed at all. The cloud that follows him has rained and rained, until it finally ran out of water to pour out, and dissipated. He wishes he could follow it just like it followed him.
The glow reads 6:03. When had the hours passed? Or was it a day? Neither seem to mean anything anymore. But he sees the faint glow of the sun peeking into the sky. He sees a light blue, then a pale green fading into yellow, then pink and orange hazes and finally a soft but brilliant red. Something stirs in him. Something in the room breaks.
Izuku’s limbs curl up, and he lets out a breath he'd been holding for who knows how long. His mind roars and his arms buzz, and finally, with some bittersweet emotion one can only feel at the break of dawn, Izuku cries.
Every sound thuds loudly in his brain as he travels downstairs. He sits on a bar stool and rests with his forehead on the cool countertop. Izuku sleeps.