Chapter Text
The air is cold as Izuku steps outside 1-A’s common room.
He had volunteered to go get some snack for class 1-A’s movie night at the nearest store. After moving in the dorms, they had started this tradition of watching movies on Sundays as a way to keep their minds off of everything happening, to relax.
Perhaps it hadn't been the most rational idea, seeing as they have classes the following morning, but they knew it was exactly what they needed to get through their week.
After a few minutes, he reaches the gates of UA and leaves the campus. Izuku slows his pace, enjoying the nice breeze. His friends could wait a bit longer. The sun had already set a few hours ago, and now the stars shine brightly in the sky.
When he arrives at the store, he takes out his phone and opens his note app.
He had asked his classmates if they had any special requests and had quickly typed everything down so he wouldn’t forget anything.
Izuku is familiar with the place, which makes it easier to find everything that's on his list; he used to come here a lot when he was younger, to buy hero cards and candies, and later in middle school for band-aids and painkillers. Now, he's here for his snacks and only that, which brings a smile to his face. He wonders if he'll keep coming here after he's graduated, and what he'll buy then.
The cashier looks at him with a strange look while he scans all the items, obviously trying to be polite by staying quiet. Izuku realizes he's been smiling to himself - and maybe muttering about some of his classmates odd tastes - so he pays for everything and thanks the guy behind the counter who replies to him with a slight nod.
Izuku's eyes are glued to his phone as he opens the door, making sure he didn't forget anything. There's a step he remembers right where the door his, so he leans on it to push it open, but at the same time, someone else pulls it open. Izuku crashes into someone, almost dropping his phone and falling in the process.
“I’m so sorry!” Izuku exclaims as he looks up at the stranger who had caught his arm to stop him from falling. The man has curly dark hair and wears a trench coat. He must not be older than thirty, and his grip on Izuku's arm is firm. A moment passes where the stranger doesn’t reply, and then his eyes soften and he smiles.
“Be careful,” he drops Izuku’s arm and steps to the side to let the teenager pass.
Izuku shuffles out of the way, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach that makes him want to leave as soon as possible.
He starts to make his way back to UA’s campus, and glances back one last time to where the stranger was just a moment ago only to find the man staring at him.
Izuku awkwardly continues walking - though a little bit faster - and doesn’t think more of it after that.
When he finally enters the common room again, he feels pride swelling his heart for not getting himself into trouble for once.
The movie class 1-A had settled on was some random series on Netflix. Some of Izuku’s classmates had fallen asleep halfway through, and the rest felt ready for bed by the time it was over.
Izuku had been starting to get tired as well. It’s a Sunday, meaning they had classes tomorrow.
People started going up in their rooms and wishing each other good night as they did.
When Izuku reaches his own room, he closes the door behind him and plops down on his bed, letting exhaustion wash over him.
Izuku closes his eyes and waits for sleep to come, as he normally would.
After a few minutes of waiting, he doesn’t fall asleep. Izuku had never really had issues with sleep, never needed pills. It was something that came easily to him. Normally.
He tosses and turns. He tries every trick he knows. He counts from a thousand to zero. He does breathing exercises, tries multiple ones, even.
Minutes turn into an hour, which turns into two, and five.
At some point during the night, Izuku decides to sit up. 4:26, his phone reads.
Izuku can work with that. He stands up on shaky legs and changes into his sports clothes. He usually went on a jog with Todoroki early in the morning, though never this early.
Izuku thinks maybe it will help wake himself up.
Grabbing his shoes, he steps out of his room feeling more tired than when he had entered it and heads for the boy’s bathroom.
Izuku looks at himself in the mirror and brings a hand to his face.
It doesn’t look too bad, Izuku thinks. His eyes were puffy and had dark undereye circles.
Izuku splashes some cold water onto his face hoping it would wake him up, which it did, and goes on with his day.
He runs faster than usual, fighting against his exhaustion. I can’t afford to slack off today, Izuku reminds himself. He’s panting, but he keeps running faster because he’s upset with himself.
Izuku knows he needs as much sleep as he can get so his muscle can properly grow to sustain One for All.
Exhausted, Izuku finally slows his steps. His legs are shaking from fatigue, so he plops down on the running track. The artificial turf is cold underneath his hands, and Izuku takes a moment to catch his breath.
Footsteps approach Izuku.
“Midoriya,” Todoroki greets him as he continues to make his way toward him. He looks surprised to see him, and Izuku understands why. Todoroki is always the first to arrive.
Izuku offers him a small smile, still out of breath.
“You’re here early,” notes Todoroki as he offers Izuku some water.
Grateful, he accepts the bottle and drinks down most of its content rapidly.
“Yeah,” Izuku hands the water back to the other student. He hesitates on saying more but settles with “I didn’t sleep so well last night.”
Todoroki furrows his brows. It looks as if he wants to add something, but instead decides to stay silent. Izuku doesn't want his friends to start worrying over him, it’s not like it was anything serious. Plus, it wasn’t entirely a lie, he truly hadn’t slept well.
Izuku slowly rises to his feet even though his limbs already ache. He and Todoroki start jogging again, though their pace is more relaxed than usual.
The fresh morning air is gentle against Izuku’s face. He can’t wait to sleep tonight.
The morning classes come around. Izuku finds himself distracted most of the time.
Their first period is homeroom, and a lot of students in 1-A show up more tired than usual. It doesn't take long before their teacher notices this. Aizawa had been made aware of their movie night, as he was the one to give them permission to go out and buy some snack.
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If you start showing up to class tired because of those movie nights, I won’t allow them anymore.” Their tired teacher says. Most of the class straighten up at the threat.
Aizawa looks at a few students, but his gaze lingers on Izuku.
Izuku feels his face flush and breaks the eye contact, embarrassed that his teacher had seen through him so quickly. Normally, he wasn't one of the students to be tired in the morning; on the contrary, he often was very energetic.
Still, he feels a bit relieved to see he wasn’t the only one who’d had trouble sleeping.
Classes are uneventful after this. During English, Izuku finds himself distracted most of the time, and as a result, has a hard time keeping up with the notes. He reminds himself to borrow Uraraka or Todoroki’s notes later today.
Time seems to go by slower, but eventually lunch time comes around.
Izuku is seated at his usual table and quickly eats his bowl of katsudon. Uraraka and Iida are talking about some homeworks they have, but Izuku doesn’t really listen.
He can feel Todoroki gaze lingering on him from time to time, and it doesn’t take long for the other two to notice. Iida is the first to voice his concerns.
“Are you feeling alright, Midoriya?” Izuku looks up to see his friend’s troubled expression and feels guilt building up in his throar.
He doesn’t want his friends to worry over him like that, but he knows he would do the same for them, so he can’t really blame them.
Uraraka must have known what he was thinking because she was the next one to speak up.
“We’re here for you, Deku-kun! You can talk to us, you know?” She shoots him a reassuring smile.
Izuku starts waving his hands in front of his face dismissingly.
“N-Nothing’s wrong, I promise!” He says, “I just had trouble sleeping last night, sorry for worrying you all. I wouldn’t want to be a bother to you guys over something so small…” He trails off.
“You’re not a bother,” Todoroki replies bluntly, as if it were a fact, something that wasn’t questionnable. Izuku wants to argue, but he decides against it.
“I know, it’s just-...” He looks down at his empty bowl. “It’s alright. I’m alright.”
They don't ask him any more questions after that, and Izuku is grateful for that. He doesn't have the energy to explain himself again.
In Midnight’s Modern Hero Art History class, Izuku finishes his work early. He crosses his arms on his desk and rests his face on them. If he could only get a few minutes of sleep, he’d be happy. He closes his eyes, expecting sleep to find him almost instantly with how tired he feels.
But it doesn't.
He jumps when he feels a hand land on his shoulder. The hand quickly retreats, and he looks up to see Uraraka looking at him with that same worried look she had worn earlier.
Izuku was starting to feel a bit irritated with his friends’ persistent behavior. Did they think Izuku couldn't care for himself? Could they stop being so--
“Sorry! The day is about to be over, so I thought I’d wake you up..” She sounded apologetic, obviously having noticed how tired he looked today.
“Oh, I-I wasn’t sleeping, don’t worry about it!” He says as he starts gathering his things and putting them in his backpack. Now he feels bad for being annoyed with his her, he knows Uraraka is just looking after him.
Not only is Izuku very tired, he is also very hungry. As he makes his way back to the dorms, his stomach rumbles. When he and his classmates finally arrive, Izuku goes straight to the kitchen to grab himself some food.
It’s not even dinner yet, he knows this, but the lack of sleep is catching up to him and he doesn’t want to fall asleep on an empty stomach. He settles on an energy bar UA is providing.
As Izuku eats without even taking the time to sit down, Sero and Kirishima see him and remind him not to eat too much before dinner. He nods and keeps on chewing.
The effect of the snack is almost instantaneous. His legs feel lighter, and it’s easier to keep his eyelids open. This is the most energy he’s had today. He suddenly feels stupid for not having thought of taking this earlier.
He finishes eating and decides he would work on his homeworks, and finish taking the notes he missed today. He enters the elevator and heads for the second floor. It doesn’t take very long before he exits and goes straight to his room.
Although Izuku feels more energized now, he can’t quite stay focused. The bar has its limit of just how much it can help him. All he can think about is sleep. This kept interrupting his attention as he tries to work on assignments. He couldn’t remember simple material, and there was a fog clouding his head.
At some point, he closes his books in frustration. He can’t think. He can’t focus. He can’t get anything done.
He runs a hand down his face and leans back in his chair. He finally lets all those thoughts he’s been ignoring for the past hour flood his mind.
For how long have I been awake? He thinks.
Izuku has never been good at staying up late, never managed to pull an all-nighter all the way until the end. So in a way, he's surprised he hasn't slept at all last night. And during class today. He doesn't know exactly what had caused this. Maybe it was the food? Or the snack he bought. Or maybe all the stress about UA and One for All was finally catching up to him. He wasn’t sure.
He takes out his calculator, not trusting his brain to do basic math and counts how many hours have passed since he’d woken up on Sunday.
He had gotten up at 7 a.m. yesterday, and now it was around 6 p.m.
Izuku has been awake for the past 35 hours.
There’s a knock on his door. “Midoriya! Dinner is ready!” Iida spoke loudly, and Izuku could almost see him doing the chopping motion with his arms behind the door. The thought made him smile. “I’ll be there soon!” He assured.
The energy bar had been enough to keep him awake and nourished, but his stomach still had an unfamiliar emptiness for which food couldn’t fill.
He hopes he will be able to sleep soon.
When Izuku sits down, he puts his arm on the table for support. His friends look at each other and then at him, clearly alarmed by his state, but he shoots them a smile – again – as to not make them worry.
He listens to people talk, he even adds a few comments here and there to show he was listening. As he eats, his eyelids keep becoming heavier. He's constantly blinking to stay awake, but it's proving to be difficult.
He doesn't fall asleep - though he certainly wouldn't mind - but after some time he starts having trouble following the conversation. Izuku doesn't remember when he closed his eyes, nor what he and his classmates were talking about.
-riya..Mid..ri..?..
His body jerks abruptly and he lifts his head up only to be greeted by hushed voices, disturbed looks and a few snorts.
“Midoriya,” Kaminari looks at him with an amused yet friendly face, the corner of his mouth turning up, “are you impatient to go to sleep?”
Izuku feels his face heat up and he looks away in embarrassment. He swallows. “You have no idea…”
A few chuckled erupt at the table, easing his anxious friends. “You gave us quite a scare Midoriya,” Asui says, “we called out to you, but you weren’t responding..” she trails off. He gives her a sheepish look and apologizes before turning back to his food.
He’s a bit confused, to say the least. One moment he was looking at his friends, and the next everyone was looking at him. It had happened so fast, he'd only had enough time to blink. It probably didn't last more than a few seconds, but it was still unnerving.
People start getting up to wash the dishes and soon after Izuku joins in to help. He keeps yawning and his steps are clumsy. He often misses his classmates calling out to him and jumps when they put their hands on his shoulder to get his attention.
He is tired.
Exhausted, Izuku enters his room. He changes out of his uniform but doesn’t bother putting it away, instead leaving it on the floor.
His head hurts, and his limbs are heavy – almost as heavy as when he trains to gain control on his quirk. He thinks if he sleeps he will feel better, and he’s right. So that’s what he does, he lies down on his bed and closes his eyes, and sleeps.
Well, he tries to.
He really wants to sleep, but there’s something stopping him from getting the rest he needs. Izuku doesn’t know what to do. He’s angry because he needs this sleep but can’t get it. He’s been looking forward to this all day.
It doesn’t take long for his annoyance to turn into sadness, and then despair. Will he ever be able to sleep? He’ll do anything at this point. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Izuku sits up in his bed tonight again, but this time he decides to get up and head for the bathroom. He goes barefoot, too out of it to even think about putting his slippers on.
He almost collapses in the elevator, his legs trembling from the effort of standing up. His mind might not be able to sleep, but that doesn’t make his body any more awake.
Finally, he makes it to the boys' bathroom. His steps are slow and sluggish, but once he reaches the sinks, he grips the counter and lifts his head up to get a better look at himself.
The bright fluorescent light makes him look sick, giving his skin a greenish color, though Izuku thinks it would look bad under any light. His eyebags have darkened and his eyes are bloodshot. His face is sweaty and hot.
It’s so sudden, Izuku doesn’t even know when he starts crying. At first, it’s just tears, but that’s all it takes for Izuku to start sobbing. The flashing lights turn a different shade of green and it only serves for Izuku to shed more tears. The room starts spinning, and now it’s not just green he sees, it’s also blues and pinks, and it’s too much. Izuku feels nauseous.
He wants to sleep.
Now he’s on the floor, miserable. His mind is too tired to think properly. Izuku doesn’t register the sound of footsteps down the hall, nor the creaking of door opening. He’s to preoccupied catching his breath in between quiet sobs.
The smell of burnt sugar is easier to make out now, but Izuku doesn’t react, not fully alert of his surroundings. Someone behind him speaks up. It’s soft, strangely so, and quiet, but Izuku catches it anyways.
“Deku?”