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Todoroki, as long as he can remember, has always slept alone. He had his own room, away from his siblings. And neither Fuyumi nor Natsuo broke the rules to sneak into his room – Fuyumi because she was a dutiful daughter, Natsuo because he didn’t like Shouto that much as a child.
He didn’t expect any of this to change when moving into the dorms. He should have.
Midoriya is the first who knocks on his door. He wants to go over the English homework. By the time they’re finished, his friend is knocked out on the floor, snores muffled by his notebook. His cheek will be smudged by ink when he wakes up. Todoroki puts a blanket over his shoulder and lets him rest.
Yaoyorozu gifts a bonsai to him, then stays for tea. It’s a warm evening, and they had a long training during the day. She nods down next to Todoroki, and he lets her take a nap while he reads a bit.
Ashido is on the verge of obnoxiousness when she invites herself into his room. “Let’s watch a movie! Unless—” She gives him an out, but Todoroki agrees. He helps her set up the pillows and the blankets. Others join them, and nearly all of them are asleep by the time the movie ends. Todoroki stifles a yawn. He cannot sleep with others around, he realises. There are too many noises and his mind can’t quiet down like this.
It all changes one winter afternoon when they’re in Midoriya’s room with Bakugou. There are books thrown around on the floor between them, open, but neither of them pays them any attention. Bakugou is holding a controller, pressing buttons furiously, as he’s trying to beat Midoriya’s record in the game. He is almost vibrating; Todoroki can feel his excitement from where he is sitting next to him.
On his other side, Midoriya is watching Bakugou’s attempts with rapt interest.
“You won’t make it.”
“But I will!”
He knows that Bakugou won’t manage this time, so he will demand a rematch or two. They’ll be at it for hours. He hasn’t slept too well at night with the upcoming internship weighing on his mind. He’s tired. He should excuse himself and go back to his room, but it will be so funny to see Bakugou lose and then try again. He closes his eyes, only opening them a long moment later. He scouts closer to Midoriya and rests his head on his shoulder. He’s too focused on the game to notice it. Todoroki closes his eyes once again, fully intending to just blink—
He jolts awake, blinking his eyes open. “Did you win?” he slurs, staring dumbly at the dark screen. Did he fall asleep? Impossible.
“Tsk. Of course, I did,” Bakugou says. “Like an hour ago.” He snickers as Todoroki stares at him. “Good thing you woke up, princess. Deku was close to crying! His whole left side went numb.” He looks oddly proud of himself for telling on their friend.
“I was not!”
Todoroki turns to him and sees him roll his shoulders. It clicks suddenly. “Were you afraid to move?”
Midoriya’s cheeks turn red as he stammers out an explanation about heroes needing sufficient rest and how he looked tired and he didn’t want to disturb him.
“I didn’t mean to impose.”
“No, no, no! You can fall asleep on me anytime, Todoroki!”
This prompts Bakugou to laugh. "That's so lame! Who says that?"
Todoroki reaches for the controller and turns the console on. “My turn to break your record, Bakugou.”
“I'd like to see you try!"
Todoroki wins, easily breaking Bakugou's record. Midoriya laughs, even if this pushed him to the 3rd place. Bakugou grabs the controller from Todoroki and grumbles about having an unfair advantage with his nap.
"Give me that. I was just getting started. I'll show you how it's done."
"I'd like to see you try."