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Katsuki stands in the open bathroom door, spilling light into the bedroom as he squeezes the water out of his hair. Either surprisingly or unsurprisingly, depending on who you ask, he didn’t make it in first, but it always being one of the two of them is never a question.
Shouto falls asleep so heavily and so easily that Katsuki doesn’t have to worry that the triangle of light pointed over the bed will wake him. Nah, he’d have to bang some pots and pans together for that, and even then, Shouto is just stubborn enough to sleep through it anyway.
He hangs his towel up to dry before he brushes his teeth, the bristles of his toothbrush so frayed that all he has to do is avoid Eijirou’s bright red one standing vigilant in the cup on the counter. It’s ceramic and too narrow to clean, but no one was willing to ruin Shouto’s life by telling him his little art project made for a pretty damn useless drinking cup. They even went as far as replacing the bathmat and the dish they keep the soap in to fully sell their commitment to Shouto’s handmade toothbrush holder. The thing is, Shouto knows it’s useless because he was hoping to prank everyone with it, but the two big hearts in the relationship wouldn’t let that happen. Sucker.
He finishes getting ready for bed with an amused quirk to his lips before he turns the bathroom light off and makes his way towards the bed, using the red glow of the clock to guide him.
He climbs to the far side nearest to Shouto, leaving the rest for the other two who never go to bed nearly as early as they should. Izuku has earned the shadows under his eyes, and Eijirou doesn’t know what the word tired means.
Shouto makes a small noises in his sleep as he settles in next to him, another tally on Katsuki’s This Fucker’s a Cat chart. It’s getting pretty cluttered on there.
He turns onto his side, facing Shouto who sleeps like the dead on his back, his mouth parted enough that Katsuki could stick a finger in there if he wanted to. He covers his mouth and nose, squeezing his eyes shut as he holds his breath to keep from laughing at his own idea and shaking the bed. It’s not even that funny, but something about the idea of it has him losing it for a moment. After a few seconds, he calms back down, grinning at nothing as he wills himself to go to sleep.
An hour later the dip of the bed behind him pulls him out of the first steps of sleep. He doesn’t have to look back to know who it is, aware of the three of them thanks to a sixth sense he can’t explain and doesn’t think he should have to. He knows it’s Eijirou even before he slots himself behind him and reaches across him to grab Shouto like he’s in danger of floating away in his sleep. Technically the only one of them capable of doing that isn’t even in the bed yet, and it only happened one time. Katsuki will take sleep walking and talking over literally anything Deku’s little Swiss Army Quirk can some up with. Yeah, he’s got a sleep paralysis demon, alright, and he said vows to it once.
Eijirou presses his forehead to Katsuki’s shoulder, and if Katsuki didn’t already know it was him, this would be the ultimate sign. He takes having their backs literally, and Katsuki would be lying if he said this wasn’t comfortable. He doesn’t get overheated when their heights are staggered like this, and the arm hooked over him is as familiar to him as his own. Eijirou was the first to break past his walls, and Katsuki has to give him credit for not shoving himself in so hard that he would have scared Katsuki away. Now where would they be? Would he be alone, living bitterly in some shitty ass sterile apartment with no life in it? Would he be in a normal sized bed? The idea of all of it is so absurd he almost scoffs out loud.
He turns, rotating like a chicken on a spit from Shouto to Eijirou, giving him his chest instead of his back, and Eijirou sighs contentedly against his skin like this was exactly what he needed at the end of a hard, long day. Never mind the fact that it was his day off and he spent it working out and playing video games while the rest of them busted their asses saving the world. There wasn’t that much world saving to do though actually. Just paperwork.
Shouto turns in his sleep with a soft grumble, moving towards Katsuki’s back until he’s sandwiched in, spared from any suffocating warmth by the introduction of Shouto’s cooler side now angling towards him, threatening to propel Shouto right over both of them to the unused side of the bed where Izuku will sleep tonight, if he even bothers. He doesn’t bother enough for Katsuki’s liking, but unless he wants to hogtie him every night, it’s not like he can make him.
But as if summoned by someone thinking about him or by the fear of missing out on something the other three of them are sharing without him, soft footsteps shuffle into the bedroom without turning on the light.
Katsuki hears another door close before the distant screech of the shower handle is followed by the sharp cascade of water hitting the tiles. He closes his eyes again, letting that sound lull him to sleep as the familiar scent of soap wafts into their bedroom. He will never get sick of that smell. It’s the strongest indicator of this home and this family that nothing else can compete with it. Not even ruined toast and the chemical mixture of sweat, smoke, nitroglycerin, ozone, and freezer burn they bring to the battlefield comes close to this. To late nights, fresh sheets, and fucking soap.
The water cuts off after several minutes, and Katsuki half listens as Izuku goes through the motions of getting himself ready for bed. The sound bleeds into a shallow dream where the two become merged enough that it feels like every moment of it is happening inside their bedroom.
And then there’s a fourth and final dip in the bed, bringing them all together again, and this time when he sleeps, he’s out for good.
There’s no better feeling in the world than knowing they’re all right where they’re supposed to be and somehow all before midnight.
Good.
That makes things easier.
Izuku’s hand slips over Eijirou’s body and finds his.