This trip is supposed to be the culmination of the best three years of their lives. There's only two weeks left 'til graduation, and then they're off to become real Pros in the real world facing real Villains. Not that they haven't already been doing exactly that since they were sixteen (or fifteen, in Izuku's case). But now it's legal, and won't risk UA getting served with yet another lawsuit.
In the spirit of the most troublesome class the school has ever seen finally leaving the premises, Nedzu arranged for the third years to take a four-day trip to Kyoto. Class 3A pretends not to know about the pending lawsuit from just last month when a couple of their more destructive members took down a high rise while fighting a Villain.
Nope, as long as they're still UA's responsibility, Nedzu will be taking care to keep Class 3A as far away from trouble as possible. Just fourteen days left until they're someone else's problem.
Aizawa's already mail-ordered his favorite brand of champagne to celebrate their departure. He suspects he won't be the only one to toast this particular class's graduation (and toast a second time, and maybe a few more times after that, depending on how much of a disaster this trip turns into).
"Well?" Mic sidles up next to his colleague. "You rounded up all the kiddos, E?"
"Didn't need to," Aizawa grunts. "Iida did it for me."
"Bless that kid," Mic sighs. "To think what they could've got up to if he wasn't there to reign them in."
Aizawa scoffs, "Are you kidding? Have you forgotten the Stain incident?"
"Oh, shit, that was Iida, wasn't it?" Mic whistles.
"Unfortunately." Aizawa shudders. "He's just as bad as the rest of them, don't be fooled. But at least he follows orders. Most of the time."
"Hah, good luck!" Mic claps him on the shoulder. "Hope you're still breathing next time I see you."
"God-willing." Aizawa sighs.
"Sensei! Excuse me, Aizawa-sensei?"
The teacher looks down at his most worrisome problem child with an air of long-suffering. "What is it, Midoriya?"
Izuku offers a bashful smile, a light blush spreading over his freckled cheeks as he glances at the ground. "I was wondering if maybe it might be okay, if you could do me a favor, Sensei?"
Aizawa remains passive. "Spit it out, Midoriya. We don't have all day."
"Oh, um—yes. Sorry! I was just wondering if maybe we could hold the bus for a few more minutes? Todoroki left his wrist guards back in his room, and he doesn't want to leave without them."
Izuku then unleashes his ultimate weapon, more deadly than One for All, more devastating than any quirk: his practically-patented puppy dog eyes.
(The worst part is, Izuku doesn't even know that he's doing it. Ochako's run tests, and sure enough, the boy genuinely doesn't seem to realize that most people can't get backstage passes or free lunches just by asking nicely.)
Aizawa flicks a glance over Izuku's shoulder, well-used to this particular brand of coercion. His only question now is who aimed this weapon of mass destruction at him to get their way.
The usual suspects seem to be hovering a few feet away, turning around hurriedly when they realize they've been noticed. Aizawa thinks to himself that after all these years, teenagers are still just as bad at lying.
"Fine," he sighs. "But it'd better be quick. We can't fall behind schedule."
"You can time me, Sir!" Izuku chirps. "I'll be super fast!"
"Wait," Aizawa hisses, "Midoriya—"
But it's too late. Before Aizawa can so much as blink (let alone activate his quirk to stop him), Izuku has already exploded from the ground and shot off in a blur of green lightning towards the dorm.
Aizawa pinches his nose. "Was I fucking unclear when I told them this trip would be a no quirk zone?"
Mic muffles a laugh. "I mean…he technically didn't say it would be Todoroki going back—"
"If you value your life, Mic, then shut the hell up."
"Greetings, colleagues!" All Might booms, still managing to make everyone in a twenty foot radius jump at his sudden arrival despite the handicap of his withered form. "How are you today, Eraserhead?"
Then the beaming man leans in and, in what Aizawa's certain is supposed to be a whisper, asks, "Was that young Midoriya I saw flying by? I thought the students weren't allowed to use their quirks during the field trip!"
"I seriously might retire," Aizawa replies. "I'm honestly considering it. I have done my time, paid my dues to society—"
"And we would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids." Mic whispers.
"I'm back!" Izuku cannonballs into their midst, uncharacteristically managing not to injure either himself or someone else in the process. "How long was I, Sensei?"
"Thirty five," Aizawa flatly replies. "You're slacking."
"Shoot!" Izuku pouts. "I need to work some more on speed training, this is probably to be expected after I skipped my gym reservation last night, and I ate a big breakfast, maybe that correlates with my bad time…."
"Midoriya." The culprit of this particular scheme shuffles up, his mismatched eyes glued very characteristically to Izuku. "Thank you for heading back."
"Oh, no worries, Todoroki!" Izuku replies, his free hand flying up into his hair. "It was no big deal! I needed the exercise anyway...um, oh, here's your guards!"
"Thank you." Shouto's eyes are bright as he leans towards Izuku with his hands cupped in front of him like a devotee about to receive a blessing.
Aizawa wonders if he was this damn oblivious when he was eighteen.
Izuku reacts with a nervous giggle, hand still tugging on his curls as he gives a weird little shrug. "Like I said, no problem, um…did you want to sit together on the bus, Todoroki?"
"I would love that." Shouto nods firmly, tucking his wrist guards into his bag.
Aizawa prays for patience, rolling his eyes as he signals the bus driver. "Class 3A, get inside! Don't waste any more of my time!"
Once the students are settled (or as settled as someone like Kaminari Denki can be), Aizawa zips himself up in his sleeping bag and hopes the five and a half hour drive ahead of them won't end in someone dying.
Meanwhile, Izuku's phone buzzes, and he slides down in his seat to covertly read the new text.
12:03 Kacchan: The fuck are you doing with Half Baked, moron? Didn't you just fucking beg to sit with me?
12:04 Deku: But you said no?
Izuku sighs aloud, which unfortunately attracts the attention of his second-choice seatmate and closest friend.
"Is everything okay, Midoriya?"
Izuku manages a smile in his direction. "Oh, yeah, I'm good! Just didn't sleep super well last night, so I'm hoping I can get some sleep during the ride…"
Shouto nods. "Well you can go ahead. I won't bother you."
Izuku smiles again, this time for real. "You're such a good friend, Todoroki."
"I'm not." Shouto turns away, his hair shielding his face. "You should get some sleep."
An hour later, when Ochako gets up from her seat to try and find a better angle to take pictures of them from, Shouto pretends not to notice her.
"Mmm," Izuku hums, turning over in his sleep so that his head drops from Shouto's shoulder to his chest.
The green-haired boy then makes a happy noise, burying his nose in Shouto's t-shirt. His scarred hand reaches up to tangle in the hem just over Shouto's hip like a child clutching a favorite stuffed animal during naptime.
Shouto closes his eyes and counts backward from a thousand in an effort to keep his left side at 'toasty warm sleeping spot for Izuku' and away from 'perfect conditions to roast marshmallows'.
Despite his very dedicated counting, Shouto's thoughts run rampant. He's just…Izuku is so….And when he's sleeping like this, burrowing into Shouto's side like it's got his name on it (which, to be fair, that wouldn't be a wrong assumption), making those little noises in the back of his throat and does anyone else in the world know that Izuku's eyelashes flutter when he sleeps and his eyelashes are green like his hair, Shouto's never noticed that until now—
"This is the cutest thing I've ever seen with my own two eyes."
"Shh, Ochako, you'll wake him!"
"Too late, he's up."
Izuku makes a sound that could only be described as a mewl, smacking his lips together before letting out a little yawn. Shouto's certain his lungs have stopped working. As if on cue, the girls crowded around their seat sigh in unison like some big, gossipy monster.
"Midoriya, you're so cute when you sleep!" Tooru croons.
"Morning, sleepyhead," Kyoka snickers. "Looks like you got some good rest."
"Yeah, I did, actually—" It occurs to Izuku at that moment that his pillow doesn't usually smell like rich people detergent and love.
Feeling very much like the Final Girl of a horror movie about to face the credit-reel scare, Izuku turns his face upwards. His eyes relay to his brain that he's looking at a familiar grey t-shirt, a pale throat with blue veins that somehow looks pretty in the dim light filtering in from the bus window, and oh wait, isn't that neck connected to his friend Todoroki Shouto?
It takes Izuku's brain a few more seconds to process the fact that his pillow—his pillow!—is Todoroki Shouto.
Shouto. Is his pillow.
Izuku blinks and says, "Huh?"
"Wow, Todoroki, I think you broke him," Tsuyu comments.
"I-I," Izuku's mouth opens and closes like a goldfish. "What happened?"
Error, does not compute!
"Isn't it obvious, Deku?" Ochako giggles. "You fell asleep!"
Izuku blinks again. "I did what?"
"Fell. Asleep," Mina slowly says. "Damn, Todoroki, what'd you do to him?"
"If that's the effect of sleeping with Todoroki clothed…" Kyoka says under her breath.
"Don't tease them!" Momo hushes the giggling girls. "Midoriya, everything's okay."
"Wha—" Izuku smacks his hands against his cheeks, lurching into a sitting position.
Both boys shiver as the air conditioning touches skin that had previously been pressed together. Izuku tries very hard not to look at his best friend, keeping his eyes on the bright orange paint chipping on his nails, instead.
"Are you okay?" And that's Shouto's deep, red velvet voice asking him a direct question, so it's time to respond.
"Fine," Izuku tries to say. What comes out instead sounds a lot more like, "Todoroki, why didn't you wake me!?"
"It seemed rude," he replies, and Izuku doesn't mean to look at him, doesn't mean to register how soft Shouto's eyes look when their gazes meet—
No, no, do not compute! For fuck's sake, no more computing!
"Holy shit," Izuku moans into his hand, curling up in his own seat.
Now fully awake and ready to have a meltdown, Izuku takes stock of the facts. Is this worthy of a full on panic episode, or maybe just a panic teaser commercial?
It occurs to him that his back feels extra cold without Shouto's hand rubbing against him, applying a constant source of heat—wait, no, Shouto does not rub him. He does not rub anything. For any reason. Right?
...Full on panic episode, it is.
"Shit," Izuku whispers. "Oh, I am so dead."
Maybe even a panic series finale?
"Oh, Deku," Ochako laughs. "It's not a big deal! Everyone's fallen asleep on someone during a bus ride, before."
"Yeah, I fall asleep on Kiri all the time!"
"That's different, Mina, you're dating him."
"So?"
"Um," Izuku starts to say something that will no doubt be eloquent and polite, but then his phone buzzes and his heart jumps for joy as he struggles to pull it out of his jeans.
No, wait, that's a panic jump. Definitely a panic jump.
"...Oh," Izuku breathes, realizing that he is looking at more than ten missed notifications that would have no doubt buzzed while he was asleep.
He looks up at Shouto, who immediately turns his attention to the window.
"Alright, everyone back to your seats!" Iida Tenya, Saint Tenya, savior of all things Izuku-related, finally intervenes.
"Spoilsport," Mina complains, slinking off to rejoin Eijirou.
"Midoriya, are you alright?" Tenya turns to him.
Izuku nods. "Yeah, I—it's fine. Todoroki, I'm sorry for sl—for that. And sorry if my phone going off was bothering you, too."
"It didn't bother me," Shouto mildly says, mismatched eyes reflecting the empty road blurring past as their bus chugs along.
Izuku rips his gaze away, sliding down in his seat and praying that his inevitable death will be quick.
It will not be, judging by the tone of the texts he'd missed.
12:10 Kacchan: So what if I said no? You don't just sit with another guy like some desperate fuck.
12:14 Kacchan: the fuck are you doing, Deku? Answer me!
12:21 Kacchan: DEKU
12:26 Kacchan: What the hell is your problem?
12:35 Kacchan: Do I need to come over there, dumbass?
12:40 Kacchan: I'm getting up if you don't answer in the next five seconds.
12:41 Kacchan: You will NOT like me when I do Deku
12:41 Kacchan: 5
12:42 Kacchan: 4
12:42 Kacchan: 3
12:42 Kacchan: 2
12:43 Kacchan: I'm coming over there you stupid shit! You think you can ignore me like this?
12:47 Kacchan: Fine. I see how it is. Enjoy yourself, slut.
Izuku thinks, guess that answers if Katsuki saw him sleeping on Shouto or not.
"Well," he mutters, locking his phone. "This is gonna be a great vacation."
"That's the spirit," Shouto agrees, face still turned away towards the window.