slow dance with me

1

Izuku watches the drop of condensation build slowly, then finally get heavy enough to suddenly drop down the side of the glass, leaving a slightly darker trail in it's wake. The lights from outside the dorm hit the glass in just the right spots to make the droplets sparkle. It looks like stars on the side of his cup, if the stars were made of cool water instead of burning hot gases.

He sighs heavily as the ache behind his eyes slowly starts to ramp up again until it's throbbing not only in is his eyes, but the middle of his forehead, the sides of his head, and the nape of his neck. Izuku whines lowly in the back of his throat and drops his head into his hands. He tries to remember to breathe, but the ache is so bad he can hardly focus on anything else.

His head started hurting early in the night, around nine when most of his classmates were still up and lounging in the common room, so he had retreated to his dorm to study and listen to music, hoping it would go away.

It hadn't.

So he'd decided to take a pain killer, waiting until it got bad enough to do so. All his many other injuries he'd sustained in the past had made it so he avoided painkiller unless necessary, on Recovery Girls recomendation. She had warned him many times that overuse of the pills would slowly but surely kill his liver.

Just when Izuku thought the headache was starting to ease at almost one in the morning, his body decided to have an intense flare up. So now he sat in the dark kitchen, his nerves on fire, his head throbbing, and barely contained tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

"Izuku?" The lights flick on, causing him to groan loudly in protest, his head suddenly slamming him with pain. "Shit, I'm sorry." The same voice says, quieter this time, and the lights flick back off. Izuku sighs as the pain goes back to what it was before, and he can lift his head to squint at who was also up at this ungodly hour.

Shoto stood across the kitchen from him, looking exhausted as Izuku felt.

"Sho? Was' wrong? Can't sleep?"

"I feel like I should be asking you that, 'Zuku," Shoto chuckles, voice still low, as he must have guessed Izuku's condition. The migraines had started early on in his time at UA, and had only gotten worse each time he put himself in the hospital by overexerting himself with One For All.

"M' fine. Heads killing me, but I'm alright," Izuku mumbles.

Shoto nods, then walks further into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water.

"And you?" Izuku asks, though he knows the most likely answer.

"Nightmare."

Izuku nods.

Shoto had been having them since their first year as well. At first he had kept it to himself as best he could, but as he made friends with Izuku and some of the others, Tenya, Ochako, Tsu, Momo, Eijirou, Denki, Hanta, Mina, even Katsuki eventually, he'd opened up about his frequent nightmares and the sleeplessness they caused.

Most nights now, he would sleep with one of his friends, or multiple, in the case of dorm sleepovers that happened more and more frequently. Tonight was a regular school night though, so he may have not had someone to sleep next to, or calm him down when he had woken up.

"It wasn't a horrible one. Just. Can't get back to sleep now." Shoto adds, as he must have seen some level of concern on Izuku's face.

"Mm, that's good, I guess. Aren't you cold?" Izuku asks, noticing the lack of clothing the other boy is wearing.

Shoto is silent for a moment, as he fills his water glass from the dispenser in the fridge.

"Nah... Left side was triggered when I woke up, so I'm actually still kind of hot." His fire side had reacted to whatever he was dreaming about? The nightmare must have been worse than what he was letting on, then.