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This is a dream. This has to be a dream. Some Disney movie is playing on the TV across the common room, but Izuku can hardly focus on it. He'd thought he was lucky enough to nab not only a coveted position on one of the couches during movie night, but the only one next to you, you having taken the corner seat with a victorious grin while the class was still debating on tonight's movie.
But this? This is a whole other level, with you you you resting on his shoulder, fast asleep with your legs curled up in the space beside you.
(So close...!)
It took everything in him not to short circuit when you first fell asleep on him despite the chaos of 1-A's monthly movie night still ongoing. Sure, you weren't the first person to fall asleep (technically, that had been Kacchan, whose bedtime occurred before the class had even decided on a movie to watch), and you'd be far from the last, but the fact remained that you fell asleep before the halfway point hit and fell asleep on his shoulder holy–
He takes a deep breath, careful to breathe from the stomach so his shoulders don't shift and disturb you. The last thing he wants is for this to end, especially not so soon. The tiniest peak of guilt forms in his stomach–this doesn't count as taking advantage of you, right? Right? You're just sleeping. On his shoulder. Sleeping. He's being a good friend! That's all!
His gaze flicks from your sleeping form to the movie as the action begins to pick up, music swelling as some dramatic reveal happens that he's sure would be very interesting if the volume increase didn't make his mind immediately flicker back to you, wondering if the noise might be too much and if he should try to bring you to your room.
His heart sinks as you stir beside him, then soars when you let out the tiniest, sleepiest noise that might have been a yawn had you been awake enough to complete it. You continue shifting, though, and he lets out an audible squeak (earning him several annoyed shushes from classmates actually focused on the movie) when your arms wind around his own, hugging it to your chest in lieu of a pillow.
Izuku would like to say he had the presence of mind to be apologetic. He really would. But right now, all he can think is soft soft soft oh my god soft as you shift unconsciously to find the perfect balance of hugging your newfound pillow and snuggling your face into it.
He's sure that with the way he's blushing, he probably makes a perfect space heater right about now.
Becoming a human body pillow may be the most mortifying, luckiest experience of his life. (One for All is an amazing blessing he would never disparage, but he's currently being snuggled by his very soft, very cute, very asleep crush, and you can't really get luckier than that.)
(Mineta or Kaminari might disagree. Mineta and Kaminari have never had their arms hugged to a cute girl's chest before.)
(Mineta never will.)
But then, of course, it has to get worse. Izuku's eyes are locked on the movie screen, looking without seeing (his brain has pretty much stopped working at this point), so when your weight begins to leave him, he both sighs silently in relief and feels a pang of disappointment, turning his head to look at you.
And he freezes.
"U-um, Uraraka-san?" he whisper-shouts to the gravity user at the corner of the adjacent couch. He's met with more shushing, but he gives them all a helpless look. "[surname]-san is floating."
The movie is paused by an aggravated Mina, who was apparently really getting into the plot but can't stand the constant distractions. She turns her head back to look at Izuku, clearly intending to lecture him about interrupting a good movie, but her aggravation is quickly replaced with something else when she sees the scene unfolding.
Izuku's arm is raised halfway in the air to accommodate you, your body floating maybe eight feet off the ground. You'd probably be higher if not for the fact that you're still sleepily clinging to Izuku's arm, sound asleep.
Uraraka responds with a panicked look. "Shoot, sorry! I didn't think I touched her!" She frantically presses the pads of all ten fingers together, squeezing her eyes shut. "Release!"
Only you don't fall back down to the couch. You're still floating above the ground, unaffected, and this is about the point where everyone realizes that you're fully capable of sleep-quirking, the air around your upper back shimmering faintly in the dim room.
The mental overdrive from trying to not be a total creep about the cutest girl he's ever seen cuddling his arm and sleeping on him translates very well to the mental overdrive of figuring out just what the hell to do. Izuku's right hand comes up to his chin, bottom lip sticking out in a pout as he begins to think, instinctively grabbing onto your hand before his arm can slip out of your grasp entirely and leave you to float as high as your sleeping heart desires.
It's obvious that if it's not Uraraka having accidentally used her quirk on you, you must be using your Flotation in your sleep. Do you have an upper limit? Not that he's seen. What about a time limit? Sure, you get exhausted from zipping around with it too much, but isn't that just natural physical exertion? Have you ever mentioned using your quirk subconsciously? What about unconsciously? He doesn't recall seeing you do so before, and not for lack of paying attention, but that doesn't mean this isn't a common occurrence. Should he just wake you up? No, but then you might panic at waking up so high off the ground. That would be bad. But if he doesn't wake you up, you'll just float away, and it'd be really bad if you woke up on the ceiling. But then–
"Deku-kun, you're muttering again," Uraraka says, a strained smile on her face.
He yelps as he snaps out of it, slapping his hand over his mouth in embarrassment. "S-sorry!"
"You could just hold her arm to keep her from floating away?" suggests Hagakure.
"No, but what if she suddenly stops using her quirk while she's still asleep?" Izuku says, worry coursing through him. "She'd fall and get hurt."
"So stop being a coward, put your arm around her to hold her closer to the couch so she doesn't fall, and stop interrupting movie night," Mina says, voice edging on dangerous. There's a glint in her eyes, though, and a smile on her face that directly contradicts the threat in her voice.
(Izuku privately thinks that she seems to have a vested interest in getting the two of you to cuddle. This is far from the first time she's suggested something like this.)
(This is also, probably, far from the last.)
If possible, Izuku's face burns ever brighter, and he gently tugs you down by your hands, still loosely holding his, until he has the reach to swap his hands and wind his left arm around your waist, gently holding you down to the couch in a way that he can't help but think is almost intimate.
I-is this really okay? he asks himself, swallowing the lump in his throat and almost choking on it when you instinctively grab for him again, this time wrapping your arms around his torso and snuggling into his chest. You're not trying too hard to fly in your unconscious state–the weight of his arm is enough, at least for now, to keep you grounded. On the contrary, he feels as though he's the one floating now, his heart rate having surely catapulted through the ceiling.
(Privately, he worries that if his heart beats any faster or harder, that will be what wakes you up.)
But you don't wake up. You stay just like that, curled up into his side, and Mina snickers, turning back to face the movie with the remote in hand. "I should mention, [name] is a total cuddlebug. You're probably not getting released from her hold until she wakes up, if our past sleepovers are anything to go by. Have fun~!" With that, she resumes the movie, a shit-eating grin on her face.
He glances back down to your face buried into his chest, the arm not keeping you grounded coming up to hide his strawberry-red face. In other words, this is normal, and I just have to get used to it, right?
(Easier said than done. He is so very aware of your arms around him, of his around you, but there's really not much choice in the matter, is there?)
Still, Izuku's attention flicks between you and the movie for the rest of the night, and eventually, he relaxes. (This does not mean the blush ever really leaves his face.) Sleep takes him after some time, perhaps more gentle than he's used to, and haltingly, he welcomes it.
When he wakes up some hours later, you're still in each other's arms, sore from spending the night in an awkward position, but feeling well-rested all the same. With almost no one else awake yet, Izuku allows himself to smile, shifting just a bit to bring his other arm around you before going right back to sleep. Sleep comes easy, if it's with you.
