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The end of the year was stressful to all high school students universally, especially if they were studying to be heros. UA's teachers had all but doubled down on the coursework in the past few weeks, assigning projects and papers due all in the same few days. It was no surprise that most students stayed up well into the night to finish it all.

Iida stifled a yawn with the back of his hand before rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. Casting a glance at his watch, he found it no surprise that it was very late, nearly morning. At his side, Izuku Midoriya was muttering along to his notes, his finger underlining some text so he didn't lose his place while flipping through a well worn notebook with the other hand.

It was moments like this that made Iida's heart sing. For what, he was unsure. Him and Midoryia have been this level of closeness even before his confession a few short weeks ago. Before, moments like this were easy to come by, the two of them studying long after everyone else had gone to bed. Now, they had only happened a few times, due to the stressful time of exams, with stuttering sentences and barely hidden side glances. Midoriya once even grabbed Iida's hand in the middle of a worksheet and Iida found himself being unable to work for nearly fifteen minutes. It was quite distracting. It made his chest flutter.

Now, he lightly nudges Midoriya out of his studying stupor. Midoriya looks up, hair falling into his eyes and confusion reaching his beautiful features. Iida cleared his throat.

"It's nearly twelve am, I believe we should go to bed if we wish to have a full eight hours rest." Iida nearly whispered. Why he whispered, he did not know. Something about this moment was fragile and delicate, and if he spoke too loud it would be broken. Midoriya checks the time on his phone before smiling sheepishly. "Oh, guess the time slipped away from me. Sorry about that."

They began to push papers back into folders and in between the pages of textbooks, and Iida slung a book bag one shoulder before finally standing from the common room's couch. Iida stretched his arms above his head, his spine cracking from the position he was in. He needed to work on his posture.

And something impulsive hit him, a lone thought and an idea from watching a romantic comedy with Uraraka the other night. "I can carry your bag, Midoriya."

Midoriya's eyes were bright as he passed Iida the bag, and his lips forming the most precious smile ever put on earth. "Thank you."

Iida sucked in a breath and followed Midoriya to the elevator, and paused as they waited for it to arrive from the top floors. He is trying very hard not to focus on Midoriya's slightly ruffled and out of place hair and instead stared at the ground. Midoriya's socks were at first glance, matching, but upon closer inspection revealed that one had tiny foxes on them while the other did not. It was either a fashion statement or a lack of clean laundry, and considering how busy their week was it was most likely the latter.

They made it to Midoriya's door without that delicate moment breaking. No one opened their doors to disturb them, most likely because of the late hour, and the dimmed lights of the hallway almost made the moment more… Something. Iida couldn't quite put a word to it. It made his chest flutter and tighten when he looked at his, his boyf- his friend, and he handed Midoriya his bookbag as he unlocked the door. Midoryia turned around, and Iida was startled by how intent and determined he suddenly looked.

"Is something the matter?"

"No. No no, not at all. Just, give me a minute?" Midoriya stuttered, but did not break eye contact. Iida found that he didn't mind and took the moment to admire how pretty his eyes looked, and realized that Midoriya was standing on his toes.

He was just about to ask why when Midoriya suddenly leaned forward, the calculating look in his eyes hardening as he gazed at Iida's face. He was close enough that Iida could count the eyelashes that fluttered once, twice, before placing his hands on either side of Iida's face, and swooping forward and covering his lips with his own. His lips were softer and smoother than expected. It was a wonderful softness, a delicate touch of noses and lips and Midoriya's hands were so warm-

He pulled away, heat rising in his face. Iida was frozen but immediately wanted to kiss him again, wanted to hold him forever. But Midoriya all but scrambled into his room as heat rose in Iida's face.

"OKAYGOODNIGHTIIDAKUN," he all but yells and slams the door in his face, his face redder than a tomato. Iida was frozen in place, his arms stuck at a ninety degree angle as he tried to process what just happened.

Midoriya slammed the door and fell onto the floor, arms spread and heart pounding. He stared at the ceiling of his dorm room, watching the fan make one, two, three, cycles before bringing his hands to his lips. He traced the bottom lip carefully with his forefinger and middle, before curling into a ball and giggling as he replayed that moment in his mind over and over. Every single detail he tried to burn into his memory so he would never forget it as long as he lived, the softness and texture of Iida's lips and the way his breath felt over his upper lip. He smiled to himself, hands covering his face as he vibrated happily, trying to contain his laughter to not disturb his sleeping neighbors.

"I can't believe I did that!" He gasped, momentarily horrified. Will this change his and Iida's relationship in any way? Did he misunderstand Iida's confession to him a few weeks ago? What if he didn't actually like Midoriya romantically but instead as a friend?

Then he remembered how Iida didn't pull away, and how flustered he looked the other night when he held his hand, and how caring he was to Midoriya that he didn't quite give to the other students. He always waited for him after class so they could walk to the dorms and he had a smile that he only used when talking to Midoriya. The way he used "I like you! Romantically!" no less than three times in his confession before Midoriya could tell him that he as well, liked him too. Romantically.

No, of course not. Midoriya didn't misunderstand at all. If anything, he should have done this sooner.

"I can't believe I did that!" He said again, the anxiety gone and those happy giggles coming back once more.

He wonders if he should text Uraraka about this. It hadn't even occurred to him to ask permission from Iida to do so. She was most likely asleep anyway, and it was much too late to start a conversation when he needed to go to bed in preparation for the test tomorrow.

Midoriya slowly rose and made his way to his bed, and buried his face in his pillow, his smile never fading. His heart felt like he just ran the ten kilometer track around the school and he had enough energy to run all the way home to his mother's apartment and back without breaking a sweat.

Instead, he settled for piling all of his blankets up to his shoulders and forcing his eyes closed, willing his heartbeat to go down and his mind to drift off.

(He did not get much sleep that night.)

Iida had walked back to his own dorm with purposeful strides, taking the stairs instead of the elevator in attempt to process what happened.

When he finally unlocked his door and had it safely secured behind him, he leaned against the back of the door and put his hand to his chest in an attempt to make his heart slow down. His smile was so wide it hurt but he didn't try to contain or stop it.

He began pacing in the small room, wall to window to door to window. He was giggling. Genuinely giggling, and running his hands through his hair and already thinking about tomorrow and how he will see Midoryia at breakfast and their eyes will meet and they would both know .

Finally he sat down on his bed, hands on his knees and trying so hard for the sake of his neighbors to keep collected and calm. For once he forgoed changing from his casual clothing to his pajamas in favor of burying his face into his pillow and thinking about how he could count his freckles without his glasses, how his heartbeat rose in his chest and was so loud he was afraid Midoriya could hear it, and how soft and warm Midoriya's palms were on either side of his cheeks before finally finally kissing, and it was soft and a little bit moist and Midoriya's lips were most possibly the most softest thing he ever had the honor of touching, and-

Iida rolled over and muffled his squeal with a pillow. Midoriya was so adorable that his heart could hardly take it!

They both did excellent scores on the test. When asked how by classmates and peers, they only looked over at each other from across the room before blushing and turning away.

"Oh you know, just studied and got a lot of rest the night before." Midoriya said as he rubbed the back of his neck, thinking of Iida's warm weight next to him on the common room sofa and how that seemed to ground his anxiety more than anything else.