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Hitoshi sat criss-cross on his bed, scrolling aimlessly through his phone whilst Izuku, Shouto and Ochako slept soundly at his sides, the two former a tangle of limbs, and the latter with her head resting in his lap. Normally, with his partners here, Hitoshi would have made more of an effort to sleep, but he couldn’t help worrying about the one who wasn’t there.
It wasn’t like he had anything much to worry about, after all he was likely sound asleep himself in his own room, just down the hall. But there was a strange feeling that had seated itself within his stomach, one that just wouldn’t go away, no matter how many times he assured himself that everything was probably fine.
Tenya had said he needed time to study, and was much too concerned about getting caught breaking the dorm rules to begin with. And he had brought up a good point; it wasn’t exactly easy to cram five people into one of the dorm rooms, even just the four of them was pushing it—even if Hitoshi’s was, objectively, the most comfortable room of theirs to be in.
He was using his phone as a means to distract himself. He might not sleep, but at least he could wander around Instagram for a bit, negative thoughts replaced with cute videos of cats.
It was around two in the morning, so he was extremely surprised to hear a small knock at the door. Tenya’s concerns about getting caught came to mind, and for a moment Hitoshi panicked, thinking there may be a teacher on the other side.
His initial response was to do nothing, to sit in the same spot and move as little as possible, especially because he didn’t want to wake the other three up. But the knocks came again, more fast and frantic this time, yet oddly still light. Deciding the knocking would probably risk waking his partners up anyway, he reluctantly slinked out of bed, lucky that Ochako didn’t wake up, even after he had to scoot her off him.
As he got closer to the door, he could hear soft sounds apart from the knocking, but he couldn’t quite place what they were. It was almost like… crying?
Stifling a yawn, he slowly twisted the knob, only to reveal that there wasn’t a teacher on the other side, but rather Tenya, who looked uncharacteristically distraught. Tears were pouring down his red cheeks, his blue pajamas were coming unbuttoned, and he was clutching a teddy bear to his chest so tightly his knuckles were white. As soon as the door was opened fully, he leaped toward Hitoshi, who hadn’t a second to even process what was happening, Tenya grasping onto his shirt and crying buckets into his shoulder, beginning to hyperventilate.
“Woah, woah,” Hitoshi exclaimed in surprise, not knowing what else to do besides wrapping his arms around the other boy, rubbing circles in his back to try and get him to calm down. “Iida, calm down, what’s wrong?”
Tenya said something in response, but between his tears and the fact his face was buried in Hitoshi’s shirt, it came out as nothing more than a string of incoherent noises.
The commotion seemed to stir the other three, Ochako being the first to wake up completely. As soon as she saw the two standing in the doorway she rushed over.
“Iida? Shinsou? What’s going on?” she asked in a hurry.
“I don’t know,” Hitoshi said, “I opened the door and he was just like this.”
“Well we need to get him to calm down first,” she reasoned, and Hitoshi agreed, that having been his thought process as well. The question was how, when they didn’t even know what the problem was in the first place, and his current attempts didn’t seem to be doing much of anything.
Ochako took notice of the teddy bear slowly being suffocated by Tenya’s death-grip, and got an idea.
"Hey buddy," she started, slowly and gently reaching a hand up to his shoulder. Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at her tone, but let her continue. "Shinsou and I wanna help you, but you've gotta tell us what's wrong first, okay?"
Tenya slowly lifted his head to look at her, and he nodded, releasing the fistful of Hitoshi's shirt he had grabbed so that he could rub his teary eyes. Hitoshi, in turn, retracted his arms that were around him, giving him a bit of space. He looked around to notice that Izuku and Shouto had joined them, faces just as confused as he was. He looked at each of them and shrugged, figuring it was best to let Ochako handle things for right this second.
“The bad man,” Tenya hiccuped, “gonna hurt me.” His voice was meak, his usual formality completely absent.
Ochako placed her hands on either side of his cheeks, gently brushing his tears away with her thumbs. She smiled at him reassuringly. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. No one’s gonna hurt you.”
It was enough to get him to stop hyperventilating, at least, but he was still crying his eyes out. Knowing she needed to do something more, she gently took his hand and guided him over to the bed, gesturing for someone to close the door. Shinsou, having been mesmerised by the interaction he was watching, caught up and did as instructed, locking the door, just in case.
Ochako sat down on the bed, bringing Tenya into her lap. She had him wrap both his arms tightly around his bear, and then she held him to her chest, rocking him back and forth in a soothing manner. He snuggled into her, breathing slowly beginning to become more steady, and crying slowing to a stop.
“I don’t understand,” Shouto piped up once it seemed Tenya was calmed down enough, vocalising his, Hitoshi’s, and Izuku’s thoughts, “What just happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Ochako admitted, “But I think he had a nightmare.”
That answer was suitable enough given the circumstances. They were all tired, most of all Hitoshi, who hadn’t slept at all and now had enough reason to believe all his worries had been founded, and so questioning Tenya’s behaviour further wasn’t exactly something they were keen to do at that moment.
“Poor Iida,” Izuku said as he climbed into bed next to his boyfriend and girlfriend, resting his head against Ochako’s shoulder, running his hands through Tenya’s hair and petting him gently, trying to match the rhythm of Ochako’s slow rocking. If Iida had been this upset over a nightmare, Izuku could come up with a pretty good idea of what it was about. After all, there hadn't been very many times he had seen Tenya cry.
"I'm gonna go get something to drink," Hitoshi decided suddenly, his throat feeling dry, "Anyone else want anything?"
"I'm fine," Shouto said as he joined the trio on the bed, laying in front of them.
"Me too," Izuku agreed. Ochako nodded, looking down as a small mumble came from the boy in her arms.
"What was that?"
"Milk," Tenya said, just loud enough that she could hear it.
"I think Iida would like a glass of milk," she said, chuckling a bit. Tenya was cute.
"Alright. Milk. Got it," Hitoshi confirmed. “I’ll be back.”
As he began making his way toward the elevator, he passed by Tenya’s room, stopping in his tracks when he noticed the door was left open.
Privacy had always been something that Hitoshi knew his boyfriend cared a lot about, and it was a sentiment he shared, so of course, he had wanted to simply close the door without a second thought. However, he saw something laying on the bed that caught his eye, and his curiosity got the better of him. He flicked the light on and stepped into the room to investigate.
The object in question was revealed to be a light blue pacifier, that stuck out against the dark, navy blue bedding. It was about the last thing Hitoshi had expected it to be, especially coming from someone like Tenya, and yet given everything else that had happened tonight, it made sense. The crying, the way Tenya spoke, the teddy bear… Hitoshi didn’t know the right word, especially not at nearly three in the morning, but he could come to a fair conclusion of what was really going on here.
He grabbed the pacifier, turned the light off, and left, making sure the door was shut tight, before heading down to the kitchen where he could complete his mission.
He grabbed himself a glass of ice water first, taking a few sips which helped get rid of the dryness that had formed in his throat. From there he set the glass on the counter, grabbing another so that he could pour Tenya some milk.
After it was poured, he stared at it for a moment, contemplating. Given his understanding of the situation, he made the executive decision to warm the milk up, placing it in the microwave for a few seconds, being careful not to get it too hot.
Thankfully it seemed no one else in their class was dumb enough to be awake at this hour, so the kitchen area and the surrounding common area were completely empty, meaning Hitoshi could rinse the pacifier he had found in Tenya’s room off in the sink without having to worry about anyone seeing and asking too many questions.
He rinsed it thoroughly and carefully, drying it off with a paper towel. He wasn’t sure if cleaning it was a better or worse thing to do, but it made more sense than not rinsing it off, since it had been sitting on the bed and could have gotten hair or something else on it. While Hitoshi didn’t know what Tenya was like when he was small, he knew that a hair in his mouth was enough to make big Tenya wish he could throw his whole mouth away and get a new one.
Finishing off his glass of water, he set the cup in the sink. With Tenya’s pacifier and glass of warm milk safely in hand, he journeyed back to the elevator.
Arriving back at his room, he came face to face with the most adorable thing he could possibly imagine. Tenya was in Ochako’s arms just as he was when Hitoshi had left, except now he appeared to be asleep, and he wasn’t the only one—at both her sides, Izuku and Shouto slept, heads against her shoulders and arms wrapped around her, making one little cuddle pile on top of her. Of course, it was clear that Ochako was uncomfortable, but knowing her, Hitoshi figured she probably didn’t have the heart to make any of them move. As much was evident by her beet-red face.
Luckily for her, Hitoshi closed the door just slightly too hard, which seemed to be enough to wake Izuku up, at least.
“What’s that?” the green-haired boy asked, taking notice of the foreign object in Hitoshi’s hands. His voice was a bit louder than he had probably intended, as he looked down to notice Tenya stirring, and immediately mumbled an apology.
“I found it in Iida’s room,” Hitoshi explained, walking over and handing the glass of milk to Ochako. He sat down in front of them on the bed, and held out the pacifier for the two of them to see, surprised Shouto was still managing to stay asleep. Ochako examined it, and smiled knowingly, like some theory she had was just confirmed by the pacifier’s existence.
“I had a feeling,” she said, looking down at Tenya, gently brushing some of his hair out of his face. “I’m kinda glad I was right.”
Hitoshi knew she had come to the same conclusion that he had, a conclusion that Izuku was clearly not catching up to.
“Had a feeling about what? What is it?”
“Iida’s a little,” Ochako explained, but it appeared that wasn’t enough to fill Izuku in, as he cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. “Someone who age regresses,” she tried again, but Izuku was still completely clueless.
“Age regression is when someone goes into a childlike headspace, usually as like, a coping mechanism, and people who age regress are called littles.”
She could smell the smoke as the wheels turned in Izuku’s brain. “So… Iida’s basically like a little kid right now?”
“Yes, Midoriya,” came Shouto’s voice suddenly.
“You weren’t sleeping?” Izuku exclaimed in surprise.
“No,” he hummed, “I just didn’t want to open my eyes.”
Izuku’s sudden outburst caused Tenya to awaken fully, his red eyes cracking open. The four other people all immediately looked at him, as if preparing for him to be upset. Yet instead, he merely locked eyes with the glass of milk in Ochako’s hands, babbling incoherently, yet she got the idea. She helped him sit up a little, and then very carefully brought the glass to his lips.
It was difficult for him to drink without spilling, but Ochako managed fairly well, only a few drops spilling down his chin. With Izuku’s help, Hitoshi reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a box of tissues he kept in the drawer, offering one to her, which she then used to wipe Tenya’s face. Once he was finished, she handed the glass to Izuku, who set it down on the aforementioned table.
Ochako laid Tenya down again, rubbing his cheek with her thumb. Hitoshi remembered the pacifier still in his hand, bringing it to Tenya’s mouth, who parted his lips, allowing Hitoshi to gently place the nipple inside. The little’s four partners telepathically shared an “Awww. ”
As late as it was, it didn’t take long for them to fall asleep again, one-by-one. Even Hitoshi managed to find himself lulled into the land of dreams by the comfort of having all of his partners around him and knowing that they were safe.
Tenya cracked his eyes open, completely disoriented from the night prior. He hadn’t expected to wake up in someone else’s arms, or in someone else’s room, or with anyone else at all, and yet he was being cuddled on all sides by all four of his partners. As he woke up further, he realised his teddy was still between his arms, and his paci was in his mouth. Confusion mixed with panic, causing him to sit up quickly, the teddy dropping from his arms and the pacifier falling from his mouth unceremoniously.
The sudden movement served as an alarm for the other four, who each sat up to see what the commotion was about.
Izuku groaned, stretching his arms above his head. “What’s the matter?”
Ochako soon joined him, blinking a couple times to get her eyes to focus.
“What is it, darling?” she asked Tenya sleepily, “Did you have another nightmare?”
Finding himself instantly embarrassed at her tone, he tried to muster up words to say in response, but failed. He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head no.
Too tired to take notice of his obvious embarrassment, Shouto was the next to patronisingly ask him a question, as he pushed himself up into a seated position, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Are you thirsty? More milk?”
Tenya shook his head again, wishing he could get his throat to work. He didn’t know why his partners were talking to him this way—okay, maybe he did know , but he didn’t know how they knew, his memory of last night a complete blur. After he went to bed, all he could remember was feeling scared, and the desperate need to be held.
“You’re not little anymore, are you?” Hitoshi took notice once he was fully awake, causing the other three’s eyes to simultaneously widen in realisation. They all looked up at Tenya’s bright red face, watching as he shook his head to answer no to the purplet’s question.
“Oh Iida, I’m so sorry!” Ochako immediately began apologising frantically, “You’re probably so confused right now!”
“We should have known better!” Izuku joined in, “Sorry!”
“My bad,” Shouto said simply, much less dramatic than Ochako or Izuku, although it was clear by the slight redness of his cheeks that he was embarrassed by his actions.
Hitoshi grabbed Ochako’s hands to stop her from continuing to flail them about, rubbing his thumbs across the tops of them to get her to calm down.
“Let’s give him some space, huh?”
Tenya was very appreciative of Hitoshi, slowly peeling his hands from his face to reveal his bright red cheeks, although his ruby eyes still averted from his partners, choosing instead to look down at the bedsheets.
Taking a deep breath and collecting himself, he found himself able to speak again. “Thank you, Shinsou,” was the first thing he said, yet it was very quickly followed by, “But I should be the one apologising to all of you.”
Hitoshi quirked an eyebrow at him, the feeling of his eyes on him making Tenya’s face burn even more furiously than it had been. “Why do you say that?”
“I can’t say I remember all that happened last night,” he began, swallowing the forming lump in his throat, “But I know that whatever did happen should not have. I have made a complete fool out of myself. I exposed a secret of mine to you, and now you all must see me as strange and weak.” His fists tightly gripped his pants and his head lowered further. He didn’t dare look up now.
“Iida,” Izuku called his name, yet there wasn’t malice or hatred or even judgement in his voice, “We’d never think of you like that!”
“Deku’s right. Knowing you’re a little doesn’t make us see you any differently. If anything, I’m just glad to know more about you.” Tenya lifted his head to see Ochako smiling at him warmly.
“And I think it goes without saying that we’d be willing to take care of you, if you wanted us to,” Hitoshi offered.
“Really?” he asked, almost pitifully, still not entirely convinced he could believe that what his partners were saying was true.
“‘Course, Iids. You’re our boyfriend. If this is something that’s important to you, we want to support you anyway we can.”
“Plus, you’re cute when you’re little,” Shouto added, causing Tenya to blush again.
Tenya took a moment to let his partners’ words sink in. He hadn’t let himself believe that he wouldn’t be judged by them, and yet here the time came when they found out about his age regression, and none of them seemed appalled—in fact, by what Hitoshi and Shouto had said, it seemed they were more than just accepting, wanting to take an active role, and the thought was enough to make Tenya’s heart melt. Still though, he had to be certain.
“You’re all positive that you wouldn’t mind?” he asked, his hand beginning to move up and down as he stimmed nervously, “It’s a large commitment. I’ve managed to take care of myself on my own just fine. I wouldn’t want any of you to feel pressured to help me now that you know. I completely understand if you don’t want to, after all I know it’s strange…”
“Hey,” Izuku said, grabbing Tenya’s hand with both of his, and looking his boyfriend in the eyes. “We’re the ones offering here, alright? Shinsou wouldn’t have said anything if we weren’t all sure this was something we wanted to do.”
Tenya’s eyes scanned each of his partner’s faces, each of them smiling in confirmation of Izuku’s words.
“Thank you,” Tenya said again, bowing his head. “If you’re all certain, then, I would very much like for you all to be my… c…caregivers.” The last word struggled to come out, as he had never had a caregiver before, the idea almost foreign to him. But he knew it would be nice to have people there to help him when he was in littlespace, and he could think of no one he would want to be his caregiver more than each of his partners.
Ochako jumped forward, wrapping her arms around him, the other three soon following suit into one big group hug. Tenya smiled.