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A knock on his door shook Midoriya from his dreams. He grumbled as reality took hold again, and the jovial laugh of All Might faded from his mind as he opened his eyes. Another knock, surprisingly quiet but urgent at the same time, made him groan as he turned on the lights.
He opened the door as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Tokoyami, I told you, Yokai hunting isn’t-”
A weight hit his chest and wrapped around his body, and he heard crying. Quiet, hiccuping sobs that buried into his shirt. He looked down at the mass of green hair that was neatly tied into a bun and his eyes widened at the familiarity.
“Tsu…?”
The frog girl tightened her grip on him, sniffling a little. Izuku sighed and hugged her in return, rubbing her back slowly. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” He ran one hand through her hair and kept her close. “What’s up, Tsu? What’s wrong?”
“N-Nightmare…” Tsuyu mumbled, keeping her face nestled between his pecs. She let out a surprised “Kero?” when Izuku let her go and disappeared inside his room for a second. He emerged a few moments later with a bundle of blankets under one arm and a hot water bottle in his off hand.
“Come on. Let’s talk about it downstairs.” He smiled, transferring the water bottle to his other hand and offering her his now empty hand. Tsuyu let out an appreciative croak and wiped her face with the sleeve of the oversized hoodie she was wearing before taking his hand.
The pair took the elevator down to the common area, with Izuku steering Tsuyu to the sofa and letting her bundle up in the blankets before he filled the hot water bottle with warm water and gave it to her, and she brought it to her chest and kept it there as she absorbed the warmth. She sniffled again and looked up at Izuku as he offered her a jelly cup.
“You don’t have to talk about your nightmare if you don’t want.” He spoke quietly to avoid disturbing anyone, despite having used the kettle to fill the water bottle, “I just thought you’d like to get your mind off things, and I know you love being bundled up like this, and you love jelly, so-”
“Thank you, Midoriya-chan.” She said to cut off his rambling. “I… I would like to talk about it. I’ve been keeping it bottled up since the USJ…”
Izuku’s breath hitched a little as he remembered Shigaraki reaching for her face. Reaching out to kill her. That'd shake anybody up, but the fact that Tsuyu was bottling it up meant that those emotions were festering for months, which could only lead to bad things.
“Yeah… That still hurts to think about…” He mumbled.
“Mm.” Tsuyu opened her jelly cup and slowly ate a spoonful, humming slightly as the orange substance calmed her a little. “In the nightmare…” She drew in a shaky breath. “Shigaraki killed Mineta first… T-then you…”
Izuku swallowed as she continued. “Then, when he reached for me, the rest of the class showed up and got killed by him and the Noumu… U-Uraraka-chan was last… A-and she was s-so scared…”
Her head collapsed into the blankets as she cried, hiccuping sobs followed by little croaks and shakes. She let out a very quiet, very shocked little “Kero?” as Izuku hugged her. He wrapped his arms around her bundle and pulled her close, shushing quietly as he comforted her. It took everything Tsuyu had not to break down right there and sob into his shoulder as emotions flooded her mind. She had no idea getting the words out would make her feel so relieved. They stayed like that for a while, Izuku just holding Tsuyu as she vented her pent up emotions. Just comforting her.
“Midoriya-chan?”
“Call me Izuku, Tsu.” He smiled, returning her words to her.
“Izuku-chan.” He felt her smile. “Thank you for… this.”
It was his turn to smile. “It’s no problem. Even if you did wake me up at-” He looked up the the clock, recoiling a little at the time. “- 3 am. Ouch. We should probably sleep, I know we don’t have classes tomorrow, but-”
“N-no, it’s okay. I am feeling a little tired, kero.”
“Heh. Crying does that to you.”
“You’d know, wouldn’t you?”
Izuku had to bite back his laughter, and he nodded. He was a crier, he got that from his mother. “Don’t- goddamnit Tsu- don’t be afraid to ask for this again if you need it.” He said as he calmed down from the sudden laughing fit. “Seriously. I’m here if you need me, we all are.”
“I know. But I like your hugs most of all. Kero.” The frog girl admitted sheepishly, her cheeks flushing a little.
“I do give good hugs, huh?”
“Bragging, Izuku-chan?”
“Psh. No.” Izuku grinned, getting up and stretching as he yawned. “I just give good hugs. It’s a Midoriya trade secret.”
Tsuyu laughed. It was a sweet, cute laugh interspersed with little frog noises. And it was utterly heartwarming. “Thank you, Izuku-chan. I owe you for keeping you up at this hour.”
Izuku waved his hands and stammered. “I-I-It’s nothing, Tsu. Seriously, you don’t owe me anything.”
Tsuyu finished her jelly cup with a smile and unbundled herself from the embrace of the blankets as she hugged Izuku. They stood there holding each other for a good while before a very sleepy looking Kaminari wandered over to the fridge. The two green-haired teens remained close to each other, staring like a deer in a set of headlights as the blonde boy drank a rather disgusting amount of pickle brine before returning it and trudging away like nothing happened.
They waited for a while to make sure he was gone and parted hurriedly. “U-uh, we should-”
“Yeah, totally.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” Izuku stared as Tsuyu walked off and sighed before emptying the hot water bottle and collecting his blankets, noting the subtle smell of rainwater that clung to them before smiling.
<>
This scenario went over the next few weeks, Izuku helping Tsuyu calm down after a nightmare and staying up for a while to help her feel better, talking about things like Quirks and applications, support equipment that would help bolster them, and even weaknesses that they faced. As it turned out, Tsuyu was very interested in the topic and loved hearing him talk about it. At the end of their usual comfort sessions, the pair were careful to go to their own rooms before they got too tired and fell asleep on the couch. Mina was notorious for encouraging the romantic endeavours of her classmates, and both Izuku and Tsuyu had no intention of slipping up and get an earful for snuggling from the horned girl.
Until they did.
Izuku grumbled as he woke up slowly, yawning as his vision adjusted to the streams of light that hit the dorms.
“Morning you two.~”
“Mm. Good morning, Ashido-san.” Izuku mumbled, completely unaware of his situation. “What… what time is it?”
Mina thrusted her phone into Izuku’s face as she showed him the time on her screen. “Only seven thirty? W-wait....”
He flushed bright red as Mina let out a small giggle. Mina’s phone background was a picture of him snuggling against Tsuyu and looking quite peaceful, and only then did he register the weight against his side and the arms wrapped around him. Tsuyu appeared to be snoozing peacefully, face half-buried in the blankets as she let out small "Kero." noises.
“You two snuggle-bugs are adorable.” Mina smiled, sticking her tongue between her teeth for extra emphasis.
Izuku slowly and carefully drew his hands from the blanket, waving them frantically but not enough to disturb the sleeping Tsuyu. “P-please don’t tell anyone. Tsu-chan’s been having nightmares, and-”
“I know, Midori, don’t worry. Just teasin’ ya. I made sure Iida didn’t tell anyone either, he saw you two when he went to work out earlier and almost threw a fit.” Mina said as she rolled her eyes at the last part.
Izuku blinked. “Wait, you knew?”
“Kaminari told me. Don’t worry, he’s also sworn to secrecy.”
The green-haired boy sighed. “When he went to get pickle brine that first night. Of course.”
“Yeah that’s a gross habit.” Mina made a face. “But don’t worry, he only told me, and I got no intention of telling anyone else and making a fuss over you two.”
“Thank you, Ashido-chan.” Came a soft, croaky voice.
Izuku turned as Tsuyu sat up, looking both very flustered and very happy. The frog girl got up and went to the kitchen, leaving Izuku alone in the bundle of blankets as Mina grinned. Tsuyu made two bowls of cereal and rejoined Izuku, handing him a bowl as she took her place at his side and covered up again. Izuku was both too tired and too embarrassed to complain or refuse, so he just sat with her and ate his cereal as Mina wandered off to go to her room.
“So…” Izuku mumbled through a mouthful of sugary corn flakes.
“So.” Tsuyu parroted before she took a bite.
“Ashido, Kaminari, and Iida know what we’ve been getting up to now. Iida to a lesser extent.”
“Kero.”
“We should finish our cereal before anyone else finds us.”
“Kero.” Tsuyu agreed as she chewed slowly. “But I also don’t want to move.”
Izuku chuckled. It certainly was warm and cozy under the blankets, and aside from homework they had nothing else to do. “I guess I can stay for a little bit.”
Tsuyu let out a small and happy “Kero.” and nestled against Izuku as she ate, leeching Izuku's warmth and feeling very content.