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Hanta stared up the ceiling, his teeth chattering behind his lips. It was only the beginning of Autumn, but it seemed like Winter didn't get the message. An early chill had spread throughout the area, and the talks of snowfall seemed entirely plausible.
He rolled a little on his bed, trapping his blanket in under his sides and tucking his feet under his body, trying to concentrate just a little more warmth into himself. It was cold as hell in his dorm room, and he hadn't thought to bring more blankets from home. He made a mental note to text his mom about it when it was a more reasonable hour.
He sighed, rolling yet again to reach for his phone and check the time. After being blasted in the face by his too-bright screen, he found that it was well past midnight by now. He'd been tossing around restlessly for hours without any sleep. Damn. He set his phone aside again in frustration, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
Truthfully it wasn't just the cold that was bothering him, or at least, it wasn't just the physical discomfort from being cold that made him so restless. There was also a sense of unease that permeated through Hanta's body with every shiver. A growing pit of anxiety in his stomach that came about whenever the weather turned cold or if the AC was blasting just a little too high.
Yes, the cold made him…anxious.
It was stupid, really. Maybe Hanta hadn't been through as much as some of the other kids in his class could attest to, but he'd still been through more than most guys his age. Faced villains, big and ridiculously bad ones, survived a whole fucking war. Yet the one thing that haunted him the most aggressively was getting humiliated during a school event.
The cold brought on memories for Hanta. Memories of failure. Memories of thousands and thousands of eyes watching him fail. Memories of being trapped in ice, unable to move, unable to look away, unable to do anything but watch people watch him.
Thousands and thousands of eyes following him even after he left the arena. The live broadcast. The videos that went up. Strangers on the bus and the train recognizing him. "Don't mind! Don't mind!" echoing after him, some sincere, some mocking.
The cold reminded him of being perceived on a scale he hadn't been ready for, at a moment he really hadn't wanted others to see.
"Nope, enough of that." Hanta disentangled himself from his blanket and got out of his bed. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery, and something warm.
Tea sounded good.
Hanta threw on a sweater and, after considering it for a moment, tugged the blanket from his bed and wrapped it around himself. He left his dorm room and padded quietly down the hall towards the stairs.
He passed Todoroki's room on the way, his steps slowing for just a moment before he continued on. He really had no hard feelings towards the guy, he considered him a friend these days. A good friend. It was just one of those things where it all worked out for the worst on Hanta's end and no one was at fault for it, but he had a feeling that Todoroki wouldn't see it that way if he knew about his part in Hanta's lingering anxieties. He was a good dude like that. It's why Hanta resolved never to tell him about it.
Hanta emerged from the stairwell into the dorm's common area, where he paused, finding one of the darkened couches there occupied.
"Shinsou?"
Two silvery dots peered out from a comically massive pile of blankets. All that was visible of his classmate were her eyes and a tuft of purple hair, "hey," she said, her casual greeting muffled by a layer of fleece.
"Hey Sero," a sweet, sleepy voice nearly had him jumping out of his skin from how unexpected it was. Shinsou's blanket mountain shifted as if it had a life of its own, an empty pajama sleeve extending from it and waving. Hagakure. No wonder the heap was so big.
"Oh, hey guys," he said, keeping his voice down as he approached them. "You look warm in there," he said with amusement, subtly peeking around to see if any more classmates would emerge from the depths.
"Mm, we're trying," Shinsou blinked slowly, and she might have shrugged, he wasn't sure.
"It's so cold tonight!" Hagakure whined, her arm already retreating back into the covers.
"Cold as fuck," Shinsou agreed.
"Tell me about it," Hanta sighed, pulling his blanket tighter around himself. "I was gonna make some tea, you guys want any?"
"If you don't mind."
"Yes, please!"
Hanta went into the kitchen and soon returned with steaming mugs of tea. The girls paused in their quiet conversation to gratefully accept his offerings. He wrapped his hands around his own mug, the beverage doing a lot to soothe his nerves as it chased away the chill. He went to sit on a couch adjacent to the pair when Shinsou spoke up.
"You can join us," she said quietly, "if you want."
"Yeah, Sero, you look really cold!" Hagakure said, worry in her tone.
Hanta's cheeks flushed slightly at the invitation, "I mean, if you're cool with it?"
And that's how he found himself a part of the blanket mountain, sandwiched between Shinsou and Hagakure as they all spoke quietly and sipped their tea. It was blessedly warm in there, and it finally allowed his nerves to settle, his stomach no longer feeling like it was twisting into knots.
A door opened, and Aizawa emerged from who knows where. He had a blanket around his shoulders, a thermos in one hand and a laptop in the other. He blinked down at the three students huddled on the couch. Hanta tensed, unsure if they were in trouble.
"How long have you been like this?" was all Aizawa asked.
"A while," said Shinsou, not sounding all that concerned. Meanwhile Hagakure called a soft greeting to their teacher.
"But everything's okay?" Aizawa looked each of them in the eye as he asked this. When his gaze met Hanta's, Hanta found that he could nod without feeling like he was being dishonest. Satisfied with their answers, Aizawa grunted and took a seat at the coffee table in front of them, booting up his laptop. It looked like he was going to get some work done.
"I'm going to see who I need to talk to about the heating in this building," Aizawa assured them, not looking up from his typing. "We can afford giant robots, for gods sake. Surely there's enough room in the budget to keep the dorms from freezing over."
"That would be much appreciated…" Hanta said, his words trailing off into a mighty yawn. Sleep was finally catching up to him in this cocoon of warmth, and he found himself drifting off to the quiet voices drifting around him.
The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was someone gently taking the mug from his hands and a quiet voice saying, "'night, Sero."