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The words "What a mad banquet of darkness", tipped Izuku off to who joined him on their dorm's roof before he even had to look.
Despite wanting to be alone, he smiled up tiredly at the other boy.
"Tokoyami-kun," he greeted quietly.
The bird boy's face almost disappeared in the dark, only his beak a spot of color in the night.
"Midoriya, what are you doing up here?", his friend asked, sitting down near the boy and leaning against the cement wall.
The greenette shifted.
Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure. So many things in his life were changing, first with the dorms and now with his fathers taking in another child and Izuku had needed something stable.
The roof had always been a comfort for him.
"I like the roof," he eventually settled on.
"I see," Tokoyami replied.
For a moment they were silent.
It had been a tiring day for both, first school and then their work study under Hawks who had taken both of them on again.
They both wanted to be Underground in the end and Izuku wasn't sure what Tokoyami's reasoning was for taking the offer. He himself went because he loved Hawks and the way he taught and because Nedzu had reassured him that he'd have plenty of opportunities for Underground work.
"You needn't wear it with me, you know," Izuku commented, voice void of judgment.
The bird boy sighed, but he reached up to take his mask off and pull the choker up which concealed his throat skin. "I know. I'm just so used to it."
The greenette made a noise of understanding.
He had known that Tokoyami's bird face was in fact a mask ever since the Internships. The reason as to why the teen saw fit to wear it was none of his business, so he hadn't pressed it and he hadn't told Hitoshi and Hagakure about it.
"Are you okay?", Tokoyami asked, playing with the feathers of the well-made, high technology mask in his hands.
He was by no means ugly underneath, pretty much the opposite.
Hawks, who modeled quite a bit, pressured by his agents, not that he'd told the boys that in so many words, had bullied both boys into a photo shoot.
It was good for them to know how to pose or something.
Tokoyami had taken most of his pictures with a mask, but for one or two he'd taken it off and the photographer had been delighted.
"Yes," Izuku replied, before hesitating.
During the summer camp and the time after, the brothers and their invisible friend had grown close to Monoma. It wasn't only the math tutoring, but the boy hanging out with them outside of it, words always sharp, but wit sharper. Once he let go of the 1-A prejudice in every sentence, he was quite funny.
Even better, Hitoshi had taken quite the fancy to him and had gotten Midnight to teach the blonde as well.
Monoma had grown confident in a different manner to the arrogant one he had carried before, every movement smooth and sure of himself.
The dorms had helped too and the copycat had confided in the trio that his parents wanted him to be a hero like them, a front fighter in the Limelight when he didn't possess the quirk for it. Being away from their sharp words suited him.
Tokoyami wasn't like that for Izuku.
Sure, he did consider him a friend, but the bird masked boy didn't even know Izuku's parentage, a secret that Monoma had been made privy of a while back.
This was the fifth month into their stay at the dorms and Izuku's interactions with Tokoyami, while amicable, weren't common outside of them working together.
Even more than that, the boy appreciated Izuku's sharp side, but didn't know half of the greenette's chaotic tendencies.
So he wasn't sure if he wanted to confide anything in him.
Eventually, he settled on staying silent.
Tokoyami didn't seem to mind.
That was the nice thing about him.
The other teenager never pushed either.
"What's that?" Tokoyami asked eventually, pointing at the belt that here too was fastened to the railing.
Izuku chuckled, for now distracted from how overwhelmed he was by the change in his life. "I like to sit on the edge and Aizawa-sensei makes me wear that belt."
It was one thing that would never change, probably. If they could, his dads would likely even make him take a safety belt on patrol.
"Are you out here often then?" The boy hiding a sentient shadow in his chest asked, angling his head to look at Izuku.
"Not as often as I used to be on the roof at home." Then he specified: "The non-dorms home, that is."
Did he see the dorms as his home? Maybe. He wasn't sure.
"I see," Tokoyami said, looking down at his mask.
"What about you?", Izuku asked, arching an eyebrow. " I've never seen you here."
"Oh," Tokoyami started, sounding embarrassed.
"He was looking for you," a new voice said and Izuku grinned at Dark Shadow who was peeking out from under Tokoyami's jacket.
"Dark shadow," the teenager scolded her, looking even more embarrassed now. His cheeks had taken on a tinge of red. It was something that was hard to see with the mask on and Izuku was rather happy to be able to witness the bird boy a bit more unguarded.
"In the middle of the night?", he asked regardless, eyes flickering from the quirk to her wielder and back.
"I knew you wouldn't be sleeping," Tokoyami replied. "You seem to be a creature of the night, much like us."
"You also left your door open," Dark Shadow commented, sounding idly amused in the same way Hagakure usually did when she was sowing chaos on purpose.
Tokoyami made a soft sound and tried to push the quirk back in.
"No no, let her speak," Izuku said, as amused as Dark Shadow was.
Tokoyami waved his hand around. "I was just wondering if you'd like to watch the new horror movie with me next week. In the cinema."
Izuku regarded him for a moment.
"Sure," he said with a shrug.
Tokoyami smiled brightly, futilely trying to hide it immediately. He likely wasn't used to being maskless either.
"Maybe Hagakure, Monoma and Hitoshi would like to come?" Izuku suggested. "And Shoji, you two are close, right?"
The other boy's face fell slightly. "Uhm. I was rather hoping you might like to come alone. Just the two of us?"
Dark Shadow made an indignant sound and Tokoyami glared down at her.
"The three of us," he corrected himself regardless.
"Oh, sure," Izuku replied, once again shrugging. He wasn't entirely sure why the other wanted to be alone with him, but he also saw no problem with it.
Maybe he wanted to discuss how it was to be Hawks' mentee?
"Splendid," Tokoyami replied, smile widening once again. It made his dark eyes sparkle.
It suited him.
"I'll ask Aizawa-sensei in the morning. I hope you find some sleep still, Midoriya."
"Right back at you," the freckled teenager replied good-naturedly.
The last he heard was Dark Shadow crowing something ineligible and being shushed by Tokoyami.
Izuku looked up at the stars.
He would go down and snuggle with his favorite blanket in a minute, the same one that had followed him faithfully from the Aizawa-Yamada household to here, but for now he'd enjoy the night.
It was rather peaceful out here, after all.