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Shouto knew it sounded dramatic, but if he was being honest, Shouto could admit that he trusted Izuku with his life and sometimes it felt like Izuku knew him better than he knew himself. Izuku knew his favorite foods, what his miniscule facial expressions meant, and even had a creepy “boyfriend radar” that told him when Shouto was feeling down. In turn, Shouto felt like he could read Izuku like an open book and always seemed a step ahead of his classmates in knowing when something was wrong. Despite that, it seemed like Shouto and Izuku were never done learning things about each other. In this particular instance, Izuku remained blissfully unaware that Shouto wasn’t a fan of the dark.
It wasn’t that he was terrified or anything and he wasn’t actively trying to hide it either. He just preferred to have a little light is all. Normally he slept with a small lamp on, just to counter the pitch black room that he knew Izuku preferred to sleep in.
They usually passed out quickly in Izuku’s room after watching a movie, since Izuku made it his personal mission to show Shouto every All Might film in existence. His old All Might curtains were a bit worn, leaving behind a tear in the side that let moonlight shine through the crack. Other times, on the rare occasion they slept in Shouto’s room, Izuku was usually drained from studying and passed out the moment his head hit the pillow, no matter how much light was in the room.
The light just helped Shouto feel less suffocated, but it wasn’t enough to warrant making a big deal over.
Tonight, however, Izuku insisted they have a sleepover in Shouto’s dorm, wanting to fall asleep in Shouto’s arms. Shouto suspected it was because this winter was particularly cold, meaning Izuku wanted to utilize Shouto as a heater. Shouto wasn’t complaining, he didn’t mind Izuku enjoying the perks of having a heater for a boyfriend. In fact, he was more than happy to provide that comfort.
Shouto watched Izuku wander throughout his room before he settled next to Shouto’s lamp. He flipped it off unceremoniously and thrust the room into pitch darkness. Shouto blinked to adjust but he could barely see two feet in front of him. He hadn’t realized how effective his own curtains were; there wasn’t a dot of light to guide his vision now that his lamp was off.
Shouto felt the bed shift as Izuku flopped next to him. Izuku wiggled for a moment before he stuck his cold feet in between Shouto’s warm calves and sighed in relief. Shouto let himself be dragged closer to Izuku’s chest and wrapped his arms back around him instinctively. He tightened his hands against Izuku's back and hoped that his fingernails weren’t scratching him.
Izuku squirmed in his arms. “Shouto?” he asked. Shouto nodded in response. “Are you cold?”
Shouto shook his head and Izuku frowned. “You’re shaking,” Izuku noted.
Shouto hadn’t realized that himself. He knew he wasn’t shaking from the cold; he was perfectly warm in Izuku’s embrace. The pitchblack room was definitely setting him more on edge but he barely felt his own tremors. “Oh, sorry,” Shouto said. He didn’t offer a further explanation.
Izuku wiggled free of Shoutos death grip so he could lean back and look at Shouto’s face. They rested their heads on the same pillow as Izuku studied him. In the darkness it was hard to make out much, but Shouto could still see Izuku’s concerned expression with their close proximity.
“Are you okay?” Izuku asked him.
Shouto nodded again so Izuku clicked his tongue. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Izuku always knew when something was off. Shouto would feel intimidated by Izuku’s boyfriend senses if Shouto didn’t have the exact same ones. Even if they didn’t know every fact about each other, they could pick up on emotions instantly.
“It’s stupid,” Shouto said as he broke eye contact. He really meant it too, but naturally he knew Izuku was going to disagree anyway. Izuku shook his head and Shouto wrinkled his nose as green curls brushed against his face. He could see Izuku’s bright eyes watching him with concern so he sighed. “I don’t like the dark,” he admitted.
“Oh,” Izuku said simply. “That’s okay! I used to hate the dark as a kid. It’s hard when you have an overactive imagination, or at least that’s what my mom always said.”
It didn’t surprise Shouto that Izuku had an overactive imagination, but he knew his own fears were from different sources. His father had unique ways of trying to get him to use his fire, and the dark had been a long standing fear even before his father got involved.
“That’s not it,” Shouto corrected. “It’s just, it’s about something my old man did. It’s not important.”
Izuku's face flashed in anger for a moment before he settled back to worry. Shouto blinked at the almost immediate change. “It’s important if it’s upsetting you,” Izuku said firmly. “What did he do?” Izuku asked, his voice strained. Shouto knew Izuku well enough to sense that he had rage bubbling below the surface, but Shouto didn’t know enough about how to fix it.
“It’s not a big deal. I hated the dark so he would put me in a small dark closet so I’d get over it. Or sometimes just as a punishment so I’d use my fire. I don’t really remember the details honestly, but he’d leave me there for hours sometimes,” he told Izuku. Shouto’s voice cracked a bit at the end and he felt pathetic. He was a hero in training but still tensed at the memory of being put in time out. He didn’t like thinking about the hours he’d spend sitting in a void of complete darkness and silence as he went crazy waiting for someone to open the door. He was past all that now.
“He put you in solitary confinement?” Izuku asked in a tense voice. His eyes were narrowed and Shouto didn’t like it. Shouto could practically feel the outrage radiating off of him. Izuku should be going to sleep, but now Shouto was getting him riled up.
“I guess, yeah.” Shouto shifted his eyes again and Izuku finally seemed to set his anger aside. He gradually relaxed his arms still resting around Shouto and his eyes had softened by the time Shouto looked back. Shouto didn’t need anyone’s anger anymore, it was all in the past. He just wanted to rest, and Izuku seemed to warrant dropping the subject at least until morning. Izuku reached a hand out and slowly ran it through Shouto’s bangs, prompting a small shiver to run through Shouto’s frame. Izuku’s hands were cold, so Shouto raised his temperature a little to warm him.
“Shouto,” Izuku said softly, his tense voice entirely gone. “That’s horrible, I’m so sorry. I would hate the dark too…” he trailed off as if remembering something before adding, “Wait one second.”
He slid out of bed and walked across the room quickly. Shouto was impressed that Izuku managed to walk in the darkness without crashing into anything. Shouto heard a click and squeezed his eyes shut at the sudden brightness as Izuku turned his lamp back on. Before Shouto’s eyes could adjust to the light again, Izuku was already back in bed and tugging Shouto into his arms.
“Better?” he asked faintly. Shouto nodded, his face squished against Izuku's chest.
“Is it too bright?” Shouto asked quietly.
“Not at all!” Izuku said. He ran his hands down Shouto’s back and Shouto hummed contently. Izuku’s hands seemed stiffer somehow and Shouto’s own boyfriend senses kicked in as he realized how tightly Izuku was coiled against him. He knew Izuku was going to speak before he even opened his mouth. “There’s something I was going to tell you, but it’s a little harder now that I’m not hiding in the dark,” Izuku said before forcing out a laugh.
Shouto blinked at him. He knew Izuku preferred sleeping in darkness and wondered if the lamp was somehow going to be a dealbreaker for their sleepover. “You can turn the light off if you want, it’s really fine.”
Izuku let out a little breath of laughter. It sounded genuine this time, but Shouto was still worried. “No, no! I’m just…kidding, I guess. Lightening the mood,” Izuku joked.
Shouto wrinkled his nose at the pun. Izuku’s eyes were glistening in that way that made Shouto know it was intentional, so it slightly made him want to kick Izuku’s shin in retaliation. Instead Shouto rolled his eyes and gave Izuku a gentle squeeze.
Izuku was nervous about something. He was hiding it with poor jokes but Shouto could feel his back sweating a little through his t-shirt as he ran his hands along Izuku’s sides.
“What did you want to tell me?” Shouto asked him.
It was Izuku’s turn to shake now. His body was nestled so close to Shouto’s that he could feel the trembling. “Zuku?” he asked again.
He knew Izuku loved when he called him by that nickname, so he usually reserved it for when he either felt particularly loving or really needed it for something. He had a feeling that it may be needed now.
Izuku sighed. “I’ve been wanting to tell you about my quirk for a long time, but I keep getting scared. To be honest, it’s the reason why I wanted to sleep over tonight. I got nervous again though and chickened out.”
Shouto hoped his default flat facial expression was hiding some of his confusion. He truly thought Izuku just wanted a sleepover to steal some body heat, but now he had no idea what Izuku was talking about. “Your quirk?” he prompted.
“Yeah,” Izuku sniffled. Shouto didn’t see any tears yet and hoped Izuku wasn’t going to start crying. He didn’t want to see Izuku sad but he was prepared to help him if he was. “Remember in our first year when you asked about my quirk? You said it was like All Might’s?”
Shouto did remember. How could he forget? “Yes, I remember that.”
Izuku’s chest rattled as he took another breath. “And when I told you that I’m not related to All Might, you noticed that I phrased it as, ‘that’s not it at all’.”
Shouto nodded but stayed silent. He could sense where this was going and didn’t want to interrupt.
“I’m not related to All Might,” Izuku repeated shakily. His breaths were becoming slightly erratic so Shouto placed a hand on his chest to steady him.
“Izuku, breathe. It’s okay, you can trust me.” He looked into Izuku’s eyes closely, willing for him to understand. He trusted Izuku with his life, and no secret that Izuku could tell him would ever change that.
“Okay, sorry,” Izuku closed his eyes for a moment. He took a long deep breath before reopening them and looking at Shouto, his eyes shining with withheld tears. “I’m quirkless.”
Shouto blinked. “No you're not.”
“I am!” Izuku exclaimed. “I don’t have a quirk, never will. I went to the doctor and everything, they did an X-ray and they said that I’m quirkless and that I had no chance of being a hero.”
“I don’t understand. You have a quirk, though,” Shouto argued.
Izuku shook his head, jostling the pillow they were sharing. “All Might gave it to me. It’s called One For All, it’s been passed down for generations. I’m the new wielder of it, that’s why you thought All Might and I were the same.”
Shouto felt like a lightbulb went off in his head. He had never heard of passing down quirks before, but it wasn’t the strangest thing he’d ever heard. He trusted Izuku was telling the truth and it explained everything perfectly. Shouto had probably been silent for too long because Izuku’s breathing picked up again.
“I wanted to tell you for so long, Shouto. But it wasn’t my secret to tell. Kacchan found out on his own and after that All Might really didn’t want anyone else to know but I’ve been begging All Might to let me tell you, I felt so bad lying to you. He only just agreed a few weeks ago and then I didn’t know how to bring it up, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to lie. I mean, I’m quirkless, I know that’s not ideal andー,”
“Izuku,” Shouto interrupted. “It’s okay. I understand.”
Izuku let out another shaky breath and slumped further into Shouto’s arms. It felt like his last rant had drained all of his energy out of him as he laid boneless in Shouto’s arms.
“I don’t blame you for not telling me. I don’t like being lied to, but I believe you when you say that you wanted to tell. I’m glad you trust me now.” Shouto meant it. It stung a little, that Izuku didn’t trust him at first. He had been suspicious for years and asked Izuku outright about it more than once. But, as Izuku said, it wasn’t entirely his secret to tell. Shouto had to accept that this was just another new thing to learn about him.
“I don’t even have a quirk, though,” Izuku said softly.
“Yeah you do,” Shouto said. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t anyway. I love you, no matter what your quirk is, or if you even have one. Besides, this One For All is your power just like my power is my own too.”
Izuku sniffled. Shouto watched a few tears track down his face so he wiped them away with his thumb. “It sounds like he chose you to inherit this quirk,” Shouto noted. “I can’t think of a better person for it. You’re such an amazing hero, Izuku. You already saved me.”
Izuku let out a sob and shoved his face against Shouto’s chest. Izuku’s hands clutched the fabric of Shouto’s shirt tightly and Shouto could feel tears sinking into it, but he didn’t mind. He babbled comforting nonsense as he methodically ran a hand through Izuku’s hair.
He meant every word, and Izuku knew it.
That’s just what they did. They supported each other throughout any new fact they were learning. Shouto knew Izuku was the right choice for the quirk, and he told him so as he whispered into Izuku’s curls, calming him down. Izuku was a hero through and through, he could think of no one else more worthy.
He once told Izuku that heroes cry when they need to, and that was still true as he held Izuku through his tears until they could finally fall asleep in the lamplight.