Chapter Text
You may find that your Noumu tires easily in the first few months. This is not a reason for concern and keep in mind that many Noumu sleep around 16 hours total, if not more. The Noumuification process puts a great deal of strain on the body and subjects require time to recuperate even after the final stage has been completed. Encourage your Noumu to get lots of rest to keep their body and mind healthy and happy.
So long as he felt safe, Izuku could fall asleep anytime and anywhere. At his desk, in the lunchroom, on the floor, in cars, on laps, in the nurse’s office, on trains… one time he even fell asleep during one of Nezu’s school wide assemblies. Ojiro had been on Deku Duty that day and used his tail to keep him standing upright until they were dismissed. Izuku dozed the rest of the speech, even mumbling in his sleep once or twice. It was the first time Nezu had actually praised a student for snoozing during an assembly.
“It’s a testament to how safe he feels at UA.” Nezu beamed over a cup of tea with the teachers. “I was so happy I nearly cried when I saw it.”
It had been a strange reaction, but these were strange circumstances.
After being abducted by the League of Villains, Izuku had been forced to endure quite a lot at the hands of their Doctor. When he’d been rescued just 9 days later, he was barely a shell of his former self. His ability to talk was reduced to one or two words at a time, and that was if he could manage to get those out. He had little to no autonomy, needing assistance to do the most basic of tasks. Unless he was either ordered or in an extreme state of emotional distress, he would just stand there blankly, almost dead to the world.
Doctors had assessed him to be in a kind of catatonic state. He needed round the clock care and his prognosis wasn’t great. They had suggested he be institutionalized, but Inko had refused. She’d suffered enough separation from her son as it was. Instead, she cared for him herself, receiving assistance from the school. After the staff and of course Class 1A proved themselves to be more than capable of supporting Izuku, she tentatively permitted her son to return to UA. It wasn’t easy though adjusting to their classmate’s new needs and abilities, but watching him make progress it was worth it.
Their class took it in turns to help Izuku throughout the day, and part of that was keeping an eye on his energy and fatigue. He slept a lot more now, taking multiple naps in the day and sometimes only waking up to eat. Those days his caregiver would stay in the dorms with him and attend class virtually. They had quickly learned that Izuku shouldn’t be left completely alone for any extended period of time. If he woke up and nobody was there, he could freak out. He’d already smashed up the common room once, and they’d prefer to not let it happen again. Not because clean up had been a pain, but because seeing their classmate so upset had really torn them all up inside. They already felt guilty enough for what had happened to him. Failing to at least care for him wasn’t an option.
As for school, Aizawa set up a spare sleeping bag for him in the back of their class room. Izuku even started getting up in the middle of class and used the wall to guide himself back there to lay down. That had been a huge moment. It was probably the first time Izuku had done something like that with no prompting. Everyone just stared at him for a few seconds before Aizawa called their attention back to their class lecture.
There was no doubt that Izuku slept like he was truly dead. One time he slept through one of Present Mic’s Quirk boosted yells. The only reliable way to wake him up was to shake his shoulder. Even then, sometimes he would just have to be carried or left to sleep. Those were the days where his fatigue was at its peak.
When Izuku had fallen asleep at breakfast and almost drowned his bowl of milk and cereal, the class decided that today was one of those low energy days.
“Are you sure you don’t want to switch with me?” Kirishima had asked as he and Katsuki cleaned Izuku up in the bathroom. “You had to miss Wednesday’s practical Hero Training due to well, you know…”
Yes, he did know. He’d spent that class period in therapy. He knew it would be unwise to miss two sessions in a row, but Katsuki shook his head. He stayed silent, thinking about how to reply as he gently held half asleep Izuku’s head upright, using the shower head to rinse milk and cheerios from Izuku’s hair.
“I’ll just attend a master class this weekend to make up the points,” Katsuki told him plainly, “out of all of us, you really think a few absences would set me back? Tch, in your dreams shitty hair.”
Kirishima chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair, but I don’t want you falling behind man.”
Katsuki’s hand clenched around the shower head. He forced himself to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. He couldn’t lose his temper in front of Izuku, even if he was asleep.
“I’ll be fine,” he promised, reaching for Izuku’s shampoo. No way would he be letting his crush rival smell like milk all day. Ew.
And Katsuki was fine. If anything, the day off was a relief. Laying on the couch with Izuku on his chest, he couldn't help but feel more relaxed than he had in days. Izuku’s breathing was deep and easy, the steady movement of his chest a reassurance of his survival. Katsuki would gladly lay there for hours, staring up at the ceiling, one hand playing with his curls, comforted by such a simple sensation that meant so much more.
When Izuku had been initially rescued, he’d been terrified of nearly everyone, even his closest friends. That included Katsuki. It took time, but soon Izuku had started to trust him again. Every time Izuku fell asleep against him, or went to him for help, he basked in a warm glow of pride that he’d been able to ever achieve this level of trust with him. Even if this was the closest he’d ever get with Izuku again, simply holding him as he slept, it was more than enough, he decided.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of students returning to take their lunch in their dorm to keep them both company.
“Has he been laying on you all morning?” Uraraka’s voice was bordering on a ‘squee’. No matter how many times she saw it, she couldn’t get used to how cute he was when he slept. She wasn’t the only one. Mina and Kirishima couldn’t get enough of it.
“You guys are all vultures.” Katsuki scowled, not really a fan of everyone gawking at him. He swatted them all back.
“No fair!” Mina protested with a pout. “You can’t hog him forever!”
“He’s not a fucking toy.” Katsuki grumbled, wrapping his arms around Izuku protectively.
That was far from the last occurrence of this sort of thing. Nobody knew why, but somehow touching Katsuki fucking Bakugou was just Izuku’s favorite sleeping position. He didn’t even have to be laying on him. He could just be slumped against him on the couch, being carried on his back, even just holding his hand was enough sometimes. Katsuki didn’t seem to be adverse to it in the slightest. He'd gladly let himself get drooled on if it meant his nerd felt safe.
Katsuki's proudest moment, however, was the time Izuku had sought him out to take a nap with.
It'd been a bit of a lazy Sunday afternoon. Katsuki had just finished sparring with Kirishima, Izuku, Kaminari, and Shinsou. Surprisingly, Izuku was capable of training. Once he was given orders to spar, it was almost like nothing had ever happened to him at all. Keep in mind though that this Izuku 1) didn't talk and 2) did NOT hold back. They'd learned to add modifiers to the commands to keep everyone safe, but Izuku seemed to actually enjoy training. He actually got restless if he didn't get to workout with them.
The locker room was filled with steam as Katsuki switched the shower off. Like always, he was the last one to finish washing up. He could hear the others joking around by their lockers. With a sigh, he pulled his towel around himself and pulled open the curtain, only to come face to face with a face of sunkissed and freckled skin and foggy green eyes. It scared Katsuki so much he nearly dropped his towel.
Izuku didn't seem to notice, looking ahead blankly.
"Jesus titty fucking Christ Deku," he breathed, "you scared the shit out of me."
Izuku only silently lifted up his arms. He was carrying Katsuki's folded up clothes in shaking hands. That time Katsuki dropped his towel in shock. He swore softly, torn between grabbing his clothes or his towel. In the end he gave up and just took the boxers on top and slipped them on. It really didn't matter. Izuku had seen it all before (not like that, get your mind out of the gutter).
"Uh, thanks," Katsuki flushed as he reached for the rest of his clothes. He couldn't meet Izuku's eyes, emotions jiving together in his chest like an awkward middle school dance. On one hand, he was mortified to have had his dick out in front of his crush rival, and on the other hand... he was amazed.
Izuku had very little ability to act on his own, and when he did, it always took a lot out of him. It meant something had been really important to him, important enough to override all the fog that kept him from being fully present. The fact that he'd done this for Katsuki was really special. He tried to contain himself, but he couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face. It was moments like this that gave him hope that Izuku was coming back to them.
Katsuki got dressed quickly, throwing his dirty towel and clothes into the hamper and shutting his locker. Once he was finished, he took a deep breath before turning to face Izuku. Izuku was still sitting quietly on the bench as Katsuki had directed him to.
"You ready to go?" Katsuki asked, slinging both his and Izuku's bag over his shoulders.
Izuku mumbled something to soft to make out, eyes flickering up to Katsuki's face. Katsuki noticed he was hugging his middle.
"Everything okay?" Katsuki asked, mind trying to figure out what that might mean. Izuku's ability to speak was limited so he couldn't easily communicate his needs and wants. They all had to learn how to read his body language and do their best to interpret his nonverbal cues correctly. Katsuki had gotten really good at it, but he wasn't sure what this meant. Did his stomach hurt? Did he need to use the bathroom? Was he hungry?
"K-k..." Izuku shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut. Katsuki stayed silent, letting him focus. If this were anyone else, he would've told them to spit it out already. "K-kacchan... nap?"
"You want to take a nap?" Katsuki reached out and helped Izuku to his feet. His legs were a little wobbly, which was fairly standard following a workout. Katsuki steadied him. "When we get you back to the dorms and get some food in you I'll get you settled for a nap, that sound okay?"
As Katsuki tried to direct him to go forward, Izuku resisted him.
"Kacchan!" Izuku said the name in one breath, like it was being pulled from him. "Nap... nap with Kacchan..."
Towards the end of his sentence, Izuku's voice faded to barely a whisper. His arms fell limp at his sides, body trembling as if just those few words had taken all the energy he had left. He kept his head down though, as if he was expecting to be reprimanded.
"You want to take a nap with me?" Katsuki asked, taking Izuku's scarred hands in his own and giving them a squeeze.
Izuku nodded. "With me..."
"Yeah Deku," Katsuki wrapped an arm around Izuku's waist to support him as they walked, "we'll take a nap together. You better not drool on me though, nerd."
Izuku did drool on him that afternoon, and Katsuki couldn't be happier about it.
Art by @hawker-the-gary on tumblr!