Mina couldn't sleep. She'd spent the last hour tossing and turning in her bed, rearranging her pillows and blanket, and nothing pushed her any closer to sleep. She'd gotten up to get a glass of water, warm milk, and a cup of tea at various points throughout the night, seeing her other classmates slowly drifting from the common room.
Iida had been up to softly lecture her when she'd gotten her glass of water, telling her that she needed to sleep, reminding her to clean up her mess, telling her not to disturb anyone. She didn't bother to point out that he was also awake and not even alone in the common, knowing that it would be ultimately useless and likely prompt him into being loud like usual. She'd only listened to half of it at most and she'd been so tired out by his lecture that she thought for sure she'd be able to sleep when she returned to her room. She'd gotten in bed, closed her eyes, and spent the next few minutes bored his voice continued to drone on in her mind. It made her tired, but it didn't help her sleep.
Todoroki was there when she'd gone for a glass of milk. They'd shared a few comments about being unable to sleep. She got the feeling that it happened to him a lot and the others that were still lingering in the land of the sleepless were probably trying to help him. She playfully suggested warm milk helping them get to sleep, which he'd surprisingly never heard before, and then teasing him into using his quirk to get their drinks to the perfect temperature. She didn't talk to Todoroki often, but he was one of the most fun people to tease if you did. She'd returned to her room with a smile and counted sheep for a few minutes to no increase in drowsiness.
Momo was making tea when she returned next. Momo wasn't having trouble sleeping, she was just up to help her friends. Tea was one of her go to solutions for stress and she offered to make some for Mina, too. She agreed eagerly. Nothing else was helping, so it was worth a try. Momo told her stories about what helped her sleep, recommended calming music to listen to, and Mina was sent back to her room with a new stuffed toy to cuddle and a belly full of tea. Mina found herself twice as comfortable and twice as awake.
The common factor in these visits was Midoriya. He'd been awake in the common room for all of her visits, so she reasoned that he might still be awake. She made a fourth trip to the common room, this time resigned to the fact that she was probably not going to get any sleep at all.
"Hey. You're back again," Midoriya greeted her with a soft smile. He was sitting on the couch with his knees drawn up and his head resting on them, arms wrapped around them. He looked tired and completely awake.
"Hey, Midoriya." She smiled as she went to sit right beside, letting her head fall back and her limbs fall limply around her. She was taking up more space than strictly necessarily, but she wanted to show her exhaustion with her entire body. The slight expressiveness made her feel better. "You can't sleep either?"
"Not at all," he answered her. "I'm not sure why. I'm just fully awake."
"Me too." She let out a loud, exaggerated sigh and let herself fall sideways, her head on her shoulder.
His entire body stiffened. "Wha-what are you doing, Ashido!"
"I don't want top be alone if I can't sleep," she told him. That wasn't really an answer to his question, but it was the thing she wanted to focus on. She angled her head to look at him. "Will you stay up with me?"
He was completely red now. "S-sure," he answered.
She smiled and nuzzled into his shoulder, careful not to move her head wrong and scrape him with her horns. "Do you have any methods of getting to sleep that you've been holding out on?" she asked him.
He looked at the ground, still blushing. It was really cute. Midoriya was really cute. She was about to tell him so when he spoke. "J-just one."
She sat up and leaned closer to him without really thinking about it. "Really? Come on, you have to share," she told him.
"W-well..." He moved away from her and avoided looking directly at her. "I don't know if..."
"Aww, you can't hold out on me now, Midoriya!"
"Alright," he relented. "You should grab a jacket though."
Mina gave him a confused look, but she didn't question it. She quickly changed clothes and returned to the common room to meet him. He lead her outside the dorms to a clear spot not too far away.
"When I was younger, my dad would take me stargazing," he explained. "He said there was no better way to get to sleep than to count the stars. He taught me all sorts of things about them, but no matter how interested in them I was, it always eventually put me to sleep."
"Are you sure you didn't just fall asleep out of boredom?" she asked teasingly.
He laughed and shook his head. "I'm sure."
He had a nice laugh. She scooted closer to him when they picked a spot to sit down and share at the sky. "Alright then, teach me something about the stars."
Midoriya pointed and she tried to follow his direction as he began to name the stars. She was listening to him, he had a pleasing voice and she enjoyed how excited she looked, but she couldn't lie and say that she was really paying attention to what he was saying. Still, she enjoyed his company. Midoriya was warm and friendly, she moved even closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder to take advantage of that warmth in the cool night.
"A-Ashido?" He asked nervously.
"You're really cute, Midoriya."
"Wh-what? Why are you saying saying something like that all of a sudden?" he questioned, his voice raising a few octaves.
She closed her eyes and cuddled up to him even more. "Midoriya? Keep talking, please? I'm really enjoying this."
There was a pause and she felt him relax a small amount. "You're not even looking now, though."
"I want to listen to you," she admitted. "It's soothing."
"It'll be bad if you fall asleep here," he said softly.
"You could carry back to my room, couldn't you?" she asked. She was really sleepy now and she was afraid that she would lose it if she had to get up and move.
Midoriya sighed. "You... you'd really be okay with that?" he asked.
"I trust you, Midoriya." She opened her eyes to see him blush, then closed again right away. "So come on, tell me more about the stars."
He obliged her and his excited voice was able to quickly soothe her to sleep.
