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Shouto is a light sleeper. Always has been.
As much as he’s often fondly been called Sleepy-roki due to his tendency to fall asleep anytime or anywhere, he tends to wake up just as easily.
At first, it had been more due to a kind of defense mechanism, he supposes. A side effect of the brutal hero training he’s had since age five, constantly vigilant of anything and everything even when it’s sleepy-time and he’s safe in his room. And after the events of their first year, the light sleeping just perpetuated given that almost every villain out there apparently had it out for their class, including fate.
In their final year things had mostly settled down and society was starting to establish a new era of peace, building on a new kind of foundation than before. But Shouto’s brain still refused to sink into a deep slumber, though now for a while different reason in one Bakugou Katsuki.
If there’s one thing Katsuki is known for is his love of sleep (Shouto can relate, it’s their joint hobby now). After they started dating third year, and eventually started sharing a bed more often than not, Shouto discovered that contrary to him, Katsuki is a heavy sleeper. The man could be in a coma for all he knows because whenever his fluffy head hits a pillow he’s dead to the whole damn world.
However, though it sounds contradictory, Katsuki is also a restless sleeper. Apparently even when he’s supposed to be resting, he still finds a way to stay on the fucking move. Shouto found that out the hard way when he woke up falling headfirst off Katsuki’s dorm bed their first full night together. And then again when he was slapped in the face by a sweaty palm with the full force of gravity, and then once when he was elbowed in the ribs hard enough to leave a bruise, oh and once when he was kneed in the nuts…well, you get the idea.
But there was something Shouto picked up from all the inadvertent attacks on his defenseless body at the time. Katsuki was not used to sharing space like this with someone. Sure, Kirishima and the rest had been chipping away at his rock-hard exterior slowly but surely since first year, but his bed had always been a space of solitude that used to bring him both comfort and loneliness. It’s sacred in a sense, your space on your bed, and it was something Shouto can fully relate to as well. Katsuki was not used to sharing it with another person before, hadn’t needed or wanted to before Shouto. This was all new.
Over time, the aggressive nighttime flailing decreased on their own— whether they were on Shouto’s futon or Katsuki’s bed for the night— and it downright stopped when after a rather fitful night of sleep already, Katsuki had woken up to find Shouto curled up on the floor of his room rather than muster the energy to climb back in next to him. Katsuki had felt embarrassed, guilty, even though Shouto had reassured him that it was fine. It was…cute, in a special kind of way. But Katsuki wouldn’t have it.
After that Katsuki started working too hard to keep to himself, neglecting his full sleep in hopes of not disturbing Shouto and to keep him leaving him. But at what cost?
Eventually, Shouto had had enough of all the overt precautions and of the rigid lump he tried to cuddle every night. So, on one of the nights they spent on Shouto’s futon, when he felt his boyfriend’s body twitch awake for the fifth time in order to pull back the foot that had found its way between Shouto’s thigh and the futon, he threw off all the niceties. He gripped Katsuki’s shoulder and shook him awake, feeling a pang in his chest when Katsuki’s first mumbled question was whether he’d hurt Shouto again.
Shouto had kissed him then, softly, and Katsuki had pulled back looking mildly confused. As much as his boyfriend constantly calls him an idiot and other variations of the term, he’s just as much of a dumbass in Shouto’s opinion. He’d thought he was hurting Shouto this whole time? What??
Okay sure, they both had acknowledged that the whole physical intimacy thing–well, intimacy in general– wasn’t something that came naturally to either of them. And Shouto’s guilty of being a little too careful in the past too, even when they did something as innocuous as holding hands or a kiss on the cheek, always wanting to make sure he’s not crossing lines or making Katsuki uncomfortable or annoyed in any way.
So, when Katsuki had seen that Shouto had chosen to sleep on the ground rather than next to him again that night, it must have freaked him out, made him think he did something wrong. And from what Shouto knew of his boyfriend, he can be just as much of an over-thinker as Izuku is sometimes, and probably came to the conclusion that Shouto was just putting up with him when they sleep for the sake of the relationship.
Katsuki you complete stupid head (okay not the best insult, Izuku’s not the best person to learn those from).
Those were Shouto’s first words after they’d kissed. Katsuki had glared and growled at him but Shouto had just kissed him again. Had told him he did not hurt him, physically or emotionally or whatever other way Katsuki thought he did, and that he doesn’t need to be so careful around Shouto. And he wasn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, literally or otherwise. He’s not fragile and he can take an elbow or two to the gut, or did Katsuki forget his last loss against him during training?
(The pinch to the arm was warranted after that remark, he’ll admit.)
And things got better after that, the two of them becoming more familiar with having each other in their personal bubbles without having to constantly think about messing up this thing they had. Sure they still needed the occasional alone time, they were both pretty solitary people after all. But it was a rare thing, the knowledge that their personal bubbles now belonged to two people wasn’t something that made them anxious. It was the opposite actually, the two of them excitedly anticipating that time in their day when it’s just them again, and the rest of the universe doesn’t even matter anymore.
A decade later and they’re still chasing after that feeling.
Katsuki’s gotten used to sharing the bed now, his space has become their space. The arms that used to swing over to whack him are now swung over Shouto’s torso, the other squashed uncomfortably between their bodies, the knees that Shouto could never guess where they would dig into next are snuggly pressed into the backs of his own. And the forehead that had butted his face once giving him a bloody nose is now pressed into the back of Shouto’s mildly sweaty neck, soft breaths tickling just over the collar of his T-shirt.
It’s in still moments like these he realizes how far they’ve actually come from their reckless, angst-filled teen years, so many many bumps and bruises along the way. The things they’ve had to learn about each other over the years to grow together to get to the familiarity they have between them now, something so visceral.
Katsuki makes a mumbled sound with his lips pressed into Shouto’s neck, something about die villain scum!, with a sudden tight squeeze of Shouto’s rib cage that knocks the breath out of him. It makes him chuckle a little, only half-conscious in the quiet of the early morning. He brings his hand to gently loosen Katsuki’s hold and takes his hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss before letting it rest near his chest again. His husband doesn’t rouse one bit.
Maybe it’s a blessing that Shouto’s a light sleeper.