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The green haired teen in the bed twisted in his sweat soaked sheets. The light from the hallway flooding into the room from the kicked in door as an exhausted underground hero did his best to get to his screaming charge.
His floor mates peered in through the busted frame as their teacher rushed to the distressed boy and did his best to wake him up without causing further stress. Aoyama and Tokoyami shared exhausted glances. It was 2 in the morning and being woken by your friend screaming in the next room was definitely an unpleasant experience. Especially since they had a decent idea of what kind of dreams the green hero student was having.
Being tortured caused more than physical scarring after all.
They weren't even surprised when, after green eyes opened and screams turned into sobs, their hardass teacher pulled the distraught boy into a hug. After a moment the two teens decided that things were well in hand and Tokoyami waved for the blonde beside him to follow him down the stairs. After that little issue he felt that a round of tea was in order. When they made it to the kitchen Aoyama only turned the light over the sink on, unwilling to deal with that much light so early in the morning.
The raven headed teen deftly prepped four mugs with tea and sent a text to their teacher to let him know where they were. Then it was just a waiting game. The water had to boil and Midoriya had to cry it out. When the other two night walkers finally made it down the stairs the kettle had already been refilled and reheated twice, two mugs left untouched on the counter and waiting for their respective drinkers to arrive before hot liquid was added.
The four of them moved to the couches in the common room once the teas were fully made and settled down to watch muted cartoons play across the TV. Just… existing in the pre-dawn quiet. Eventually it was a more respectable time to start the day and they all separated to get ready for the morning of classes ahead.
Over the next week it became a routine. Midoriya would start screaming. One of the boys on his floor would call either Aizawa or Yamada, depending on the time of night. Whoever was awake would make their way down stairs and prep tea and find something unoffensive on the TV. And then Midoriya and the teacher would come down and collapse onto the couches with the other members of 1-A who found that they would not be able to go back to sleep.
Usually it was just Aoyama and Tokoyami. But sometimes the night terrors would be loud enough to wake the dead sleeper Kaminari in the room above, Kouda and Ojiro had each been woken once. And Jiro would wake if her jacks had slid out from where she usually kept them shoved under her pillow when she slept.
But then something changed. Izuku was exhausted, as were his floor mates truth be told, so it wasn't really a surprise when ten minutes into the first Tangled movie the three teens passed out on their respective couches. But the fact that they managed to fall back asleep at all sparked an idea for Yamada. He brought it up with his husband after he returned from patrol and they messaged Hound Dog as soon as it was semi appropriate to do so.
That's how it was decided that Izuku's friends in class 1-A would sign up for a rotation for sleeping down in the common room. Hound Dog felt confident that the dreams would fade and lessen with time, but until then, since the boy couldn't escape the terrors by himself, he would have a sleep guard.
When the idea and sign up sheet were brought up in homeroom that morning Midoriya was understandably mortified. Even more so when most of the class stood to add their names to the lines of the sheet of paper on the clipboard. After many protests the underground hero sighed and stepped up to the teen. He stooped to whisper in his ear, soothing words for him alone. Things like, it's ok to ask for help. And, you've done enough so let your friends do their part.
Izuku wasn't completely mollified. But he agreed to give it a shot for the night. Aizawa chose Shinso to take the first night and watched at the problem child relaxed a bit. Everyone knew that the violet teen had insomnia and was up most nights. With the stress of keeping others up taken out of the equation Midoriya seemed a bit more ok with the idea.
That's how that night found 2 teenagers curled up on couches that had been dragged around to face each other with a few feet of buffer in between. The lights in the common room had been turned off by a cheery Uraraka as she left for her own bed. The two boys had continued to chat for a while afterwards, the eternally optimistic Midoriya grilling his newest classmate about the general studies course load and asking what he thought of how it differed from the hero course. That of course dissolved into Shinso's socialization go to of showing the green teen his favorite cat memes.
And to his relief, in between one giggle and the next, the other boy eventually fell asleep. With a self satisfied chuckle he settled in himself, going through his ritual of turning off his screen and forcing himself to at least keep his eyes closed. Even if that never really meant he got sleep
Unfortunately his eyes were snapping open a few hours later at the sound of a strangled whimper. Purple peered through the darkness at the other couch to see a pale Izuku covered in sweat and tossing restlessly in his tangled blanket, lip bleeding from where his teeth were buried in it.
"Ah shit." He mumbled before scrambling for his phone. 2 am. Aizawa's patrol ran until 3, Yamada it was. He dialed the number quickly. The hero answered promptly and didn't even need an explanation for the call, assuring the teen that he was on his way. They hung up and Shinso moved to kneel by the boy who was determined to befriend him. "Midoriya…" he said quietly. When he got no answer he repeated himself a bit louder. When he still garnered no response he reached to rest his hand gently on a shaking shoulder.
That was a mistake. The other boy flinched away with a gasp. And with that the screams he had been subconsciously biting back were freed. The violet haired boy on the floor flinched back with a yelp. Luckily their teacher took that moment to rush into the dorm. Within no time the tall man was knelt by the boys and running long fingers through sweat soaked curls. "Izuku." He said softly. Voice calm and steady. "Hey kiddo. It's Yamada. You're at UA. In the dorms. Your safe kid. I promise." The quiet platitudes continued. It took a few minutes for the distressed greenette to wake, but eventually he found his way out of the nightmare.
Green eyes looked up, hazy with fear and remembered pain. "Sensei…" he whimpered quietly. And then he was being shifted, the blond man lifting him a bit as he stood and sat on the couch, sliding the smaller teen into his lap. "Shh kiddo. I know. I'm sorry. Shhhh."
Shinso shakily peeled himself from the floor and made for the kitchen, he remembered Iida mentioning buying a new lavender and jasmine tea for the communal cabinet. He now knew why the boy had chosen such a calming blend. By the time he had three mugs prepared Mic had managed to get the lump in his lap soothed enough to at least stop crying. Though you could still see faint tremors in scarred hands as they reached for an offered beverage.
Hitoshi tactfully didn't say a word, just turned and snagged the remote from a nearby end table and flicked the TV on. After a few minutes he found a documentary about prequirk fashion. He turned to the other two with a raised eyebrow. When they both shrugged their acceptance he tossed the remote onto the floor near his own couch and settled back in under his blanket. An hour and a lot of knowledge about cloth cutting later he heard a rough snore.
Turning his head to look he found that the noise was from Mic who had fallen asleep with his head tilted back against the couch. Midoriya was also asleep again, still curled into a ball, his head tucked up against the hero's shoulder. The insomniac smiled and shuffled his way over to them, he nudged the teacher's head a bit, into a position that was less likely to hurt his neck. And then snagged the fluffy green blanket off of the floor. Once it was settled around the two sleepers and tucked around them so there were no drafts, he once again settled down with his eyes closed. He left the TV quietly playing in the hopes that it would help Izuku sleep.
In the morning Shinso looked over the roster before going to find Sero. He quickly and discreetly passed on the information that trying to wake up Midoriya by touching his shoulder was a bad idea. The black haired student nodded and scribbled the information down on a spare piece of paper quickly. And from there a routine was born.
Every day whoever had the next turn sleeping in the common room was discreetly handed a piece of paper with all of the collective knowledge from the class. Things that help. Things that don't. Things to NEVER do. Even the girls, who weren't allowed to actually sleep in the communal space, ended up adding their own input. Comments like the fact that Izuku hated chamomile tea, but was too polite to decline it when offered a cup. Or Ashido's astute observation that running your fingers through green curls immediately helped the boy calm down when she saw Mic use the trick during a particularly bad morning.
A couple of weeks later Aizawa catches Aoyama passing the notes to Kirishima in the hall. He snagged the suspicious pieces of paper with a raised brow. Only for his suspension to turn into a quiet appreciation. He borrowed the pages and made a few copies before giving them back to Kirishima during lunch.
Later he quietly gathered the class, sans Midoriya, to complement them on their discretion in the way they were handling things, and asked that any new notes be passed on to him, Hound Dog, or Mic.
The best part was, it seemed to be working. With all of the tricks they were learning most nights they could calm the nightmares without even waking the boy up. And some nights there were no nightmares at all. Even better, those clear nights seemed to be getting more frequent.
His first full week of clear sleep had the boy break down crying as he thanked his class, his family, for their help. Once he had calmed down and had plenty of hugs, Bakugo had walked up to his oldest friend and given him a small grin. "Getting stronger nerd." He said with what sounded almost like approval. Before he ruffled the mess of green hair and went to find his dinner.
Yes Izuku was getting better. The trauma he had gone through had left its scars. But time and family would help them fade.