It's 11:00pm and the light in the gym is still on.

"It's fine, man," Kirishima says at 10:00 when the sky is dark and their only light is the dim one in the white kitchen of their dorms, "It's not that late yet. You can check in if whoever's in there is still in there at 11, okay?"

Todoroki keeps his eyes fixed on the light peeking out through the day and tries to act nonchalant. (He fails. Miserably. But it's the thought that counts?) "Okay," he answers, grip tight on his cup of tea.

Kirishima has long since retired to bed, leaving Todoroki alone with his book, a book on the morality of heroes that Uraraka and Aizawa-sensei had both recommended he read.

Except now it's late and the light is on and Todoroki is beginning to question whether anyone was there in the first place. Maybe the last person that left the gym had simply forgotten to close the lights, and the electricity was being wasted, in which case it was Todoroki's duty to prevent the school from wasting electricity or at least, money on their electricity bills. And if someone was in there, it was well beyond time for them to go to sleep.

He goes and there's the sound of the treadmill, feet pounding in a steady thump, thump, thump and the whirl of gears as Todoroki toes his way into the gym.

He feels oddly out of place in the gym. It's different, at night, and he isn't in his workout gear. He feels like a stranger, and it feels like the gym has been pulled out of time, displaced somehow.

The gym is strange without students filling it, strange in it's silence with only the steady thumping of a runner's feet and the click of the treadmill's inner workings. It's strange without chatter and laughter and complaining that is mostly done for the sake of complaining than any actual dissatisfaction.

And Todoroki, in his banana yellow socks and faded grey t-shirt with ALL MIGHT scrawled in bright blue that had chipped away with time (he had originally gotten it just to make Endeavor angry, but over time it had grown on him, and besides, it was quite comfortable), feels that he likely looks just as out of place in the gym as he feels.

And yet.

"Midoriya-kun," Todoroki cups his hands around his mouth and calls out, "You should be asleep right now."

The sound of the treadmill stops and Midoriya turns around, drenched in sweat and wide eyed, bashful as though he were caught committing a serious crime. (As if he could do such a thing.) "Todoroki-kun!" He squeaks, bouncing off the treadmill and picking up a towel from the bench to wipe his forehead and the back of his neck.

His hair slicks back with sweat and Todoroki tries not to notice that Midoriya's curls, which usually tangle down to his eyebrows, have all been pushed away.

"It's 11:00," Todoroki informs Midoriya, and takes a sip of his tea, which has long since gone cold.

"Ah, already?" Midoriya rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "I must have lost track of time," There's something odd in his voice, though, something that makes Todoroki think maybe he didn't lose track of time, maybe he honestly did mean to stay up this long.

"You must be tired," Todoroki says instead of voicing his doubts, "Let's head up."

"Ah..." Midoriya glances at Todoroki, then looks at his sneakers, dark grey without any shoelaces, and there's something strained in his smile as he looks at Todoroki again and says, "I just need to cool down. I'll stretch then I'll head up and sleep, yeah?"

"Alright," Todoroki sits down, "I'll wait for you."

Midoriya freezes, caught.

Midoriya stares at Todoroki. Todoroki stares back.

"It's really unnecessary..." Midoriya begins weakly.

"Is it?" Todoroki's voice is sharper than he intends, and he immediately feels guilty when Midoriya winces, but he does not apologize.

Midoriya doesn't respond, instead lowering his eyes and unrolling his yoga mat, going through leg stretches with practiced ease. Todoroki waits in silence, sipping his cold tea and watching Midoriya.

The silence is not nearly so comfortable as patient, less of a moment that could last into eternity and more of an in between, waiting for something to happen.

Midoriya first breaks the silence, "I have nightmares about... about Kamino. Or when we went to fight Chisaki. That I don't fight enough, or All Might doesn't win, or Eri is too scared to climb on my back and I can't do anything but watch while the heroes all fall, one by one."

Todoroki is silent, the stillness heavy and throat burning like molasses has been poured through it. What is he supposed to say, to comfort nightmares? What can he say?

"And sometimes, I know it's a dream," Midoriya is folded over, hands on the balls of his feet and his forehead pressed against his shins, voice cracking in fear, "And I want to wake up, I think wake up wake up wake up but I don't wake up, the nightmare continues and I start to doubt myself and think maybe the dream is real, then someone comes to kill me and I... and I wake up."

"And you're afraid," Todoroki says quietly, and immediately curses himself. That wasn't comfort, that was the opposite of comfort. Why is he so bad at this?

"Yeah," Midoriya unfolds and his gaze turns to Todoroki, weary and dark, bags hanging under his eyes and a line of sweat trickling from his temple to the right side of his chin. "But you can't do anything about that fear. You can't fight it, can't get rid of it. It just sits in you, burning like a cinder, and you just wait and hope for it to go away."

"You can," Todoroki gnaws on his lower lip, "You can talk to me about it. Talk to someone, not me, necessarily, I'm, um, not good at talking. But, someone you think you can trust. That sounds cliche, doesn't it. But it. It helps."

Midoriya blinks.

He watches Todoroki through long lashes, half lidded but curious eyes, and his fingers ghost over the tops of his knees before he smiles softly and says, "Thank you, Todoroki-kun."

Todoroki's throat closes and he nods.

The moment feels heavy and stiff, then Midoriya stands up and says quietly, "I'm tired. I'll clean up my yoga mat and we'll go up and sleep, yeah?"

"I, um," Todoroki reddens, "I have to brush my teeth."

Midoriya tilts his head to the side and then laughs at Todoroki, "Of course you do. You're drinking tea, aren't you?"

"Am I so predictable?" Todoroki knows that he is. He doesn't really drink much besides tea, which is always in a mug, and water, which he always drinks from his water bottle. "You should sleep. I'll just head off on my own to brush it."

"No, it's fine," Midoriya's voice is forceful, and he looks startled by it. "Sorry. I just... I don't feel like being alone right now."

Todoroki softens, "It's okay. I understand."

Midoriya smiles at him, soft and sweet, and he says quietly, voice like fingers skimming over the surface of water, "Thank you."

Todoroki nods, and Midoriya cleans up in silence, rolling up his yoga mat and putting it away in the storage closet before they head upstairs. Midoriya closes the gym lights and they make their way to the stairs hand in hand, Todoroki keeping his fingers against the wall to guide them in the darkness and Midoriya holding a hand in front so that they don't accidentally smash into anything.

They make it to the stairs in relative safety, only having stubbed their toes once (maybe twice, but that was a weight someone left lying around so it didn't count even if it did hurt). The third stair creaks, and Todoroki and Midoriya shush it and try to contain their sleep deprived giggles as they continue onward. Thankfully, none of the other stairs creak and they manage to pad their way to the bathroom easily.

The bathroom light is blinding after their eyes became accustomed to the dark, and the way that the white walls practically glow don't help matters. Todoroki squints the entire time that he brushes his teeth while Midoriya simply keeps his eyes closed, perched on the edge of the bathroom counter and dangling his legs over the edge.

There's a band-aid on the outside of his right foot, Todoroki notices blearily, but both their toes don't seem to be bleeding from when they stubbed them so they both count the journey through the dark as a win.

Todoroki spits out his toothpaste, mouth feeling minty and teeth oddly smooth as he puts in his retainers and closes the bathroom lights.

They are once again drowned in the darkness, and their eyes take only a moment to adjust before they are pressing fingers on the walls again.

They make it to Midoriya's room quickly, Todoroki barely feels like he has taken two steps before his fingers are tracing the nameplate Midoriya Izuku and Midoriya is standing in the doorway of his room, his outlines clear since he has turned on the light in his bedroom as he hesitantly says to Todoroki, "Thank you."

"Will you sleep alright?" Todoroki asks quietly, and Midoriya casts a skittish, uncertain glance into his room.

"I'll sleep," he shrugs, as though simply that were enough to send Todoroki away, mind put at peace.

It's not enough. Nowhere near enough, really.

"I can... stay with you," Todoroki says awkwardly, words halting, uncertain. He dimly remembers nights after training with Endeavor when he was young and Fuyumi wasn't quite so afraid, remembers crying with bruises on his cheeks and Fuyumi laying next to him, fingers carded in his hair as he fell asleep with his face tucked in the crook of her neck, feeling a false sense of safety tucked in her arms. "If it'll help."

Midoriya blinks owlishly, surprised and then fond and grateful, "You don't have to," he says quietly, as though Todoroki could be forced into doing something like this.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Todoroki asks. He is still holding Midoriya's hand despite the fact that the light has been turned on and Midoriya squeezes it, grateful and sending his thanks.

"Please stay if you want to," Midoriya murmurs, bowing his head, "I would be grateful."

"Of course," Todoroki smooths out his pants and is grateful that he thought to change into his pajamas before going down to drink tea with Kirishima, and Midoriya yawns, fingers brushing against his lips as he does so. Todoroki slips off his socks and says, "I can sleep on the floor."

"Don't be silly," Midoriya laughs, "There's plenty of room for the both of us, and we're both wearing pajamas, so nobody will get any funny ideas."

"Okay," Todoroki obliges easily, too tired to argue for the sake of propriety. "Sweet dreams, Midoriya-kun."

Midoriya smiles weakly at Todoroki as he closes the lights, "I'll be thankful enough for none," he answers lightly.

In the morning, when Todoroki wakes with the sun through the curtains and birds chirping, it's already eight, the latest he's slept in for a long time, and Midoriya blinks groggily at him as he wakes.

"Thank you, Todoroki-kun," Midoriya smiles, gentle, still too tired for it to be a full on grin, but it sends the message across well enough. "I slept wonderfully."

"I'm glad," Todoroki smiles back.

Then he remembers that class starts at 8:30 and both of them quickly scramble to get dressed.