(Never) forget you

11

As you reached the door right next to yours, you slowly opened it, cringing at every sound you made.

Eventually, you saw yourself in Todoroki's room. He was sleeping soundly, his back facing you, a big blanket covering him just above the torso.

You made your way to the bed, and, as quiet as possible, laid down next to him. You thanked the lord when you saw he didn't make any movement. While on your side and staring at his back that was turned to you, you tried to fall asleep.

You noticed his bed was slightly warmer, but that was probably just because he was there.

About thirty minutes had passed, and you were just about to fall asleep, when you felt the other side of the bed twitch.

Rubbing your eyes, you sat up and looked at Todoroki. His usual neutral expression now had a frown, he was breathing heavily, and his body was twitching every few seconds.

You stared at him, unsure of what to do. If you woke him up, that would startle him, but if you left him like that, he would go through more pain.

You reached out a hand and to it on his arm, trying to slowly shake his body, hoping that would wake him up without scaring him.

Before you could, though, he jolted to a sitting position, eyes wide open, breathing even heavier, a hand on his chest.

He didn't seem to have noticed you, as he clenched the hand on his chest harder, trying and failing to steady his breathing.

Without a second thought, you positioned yourself to face him, and took his trembling hands in yours, making him look up at you.

"Hey." A bit confused, he looked at you for a second, before his head dropped, his panting continuing.  "Look at me" you demanded, and Todoroki lifted his head, now looking at you.

His eyes were irritated, red veins covering the spaces that were supposed to be white. A few tears were staining his cheeks, which you wiped with your thumb.

"Now." You said, your tone a little softer. "Take a deep breath in-"

You took a deep breath in, Todoroki following you.

"-and a deep breath out." He followed you once again, though his breathing remained heavy after.

You repeated that about 10 more times, until he was breathing normally again.

He was now looking down at your hands, his eyes half closed, too exhausted to react to what had just happened. He looked calm, somehow peaceful, though his heart beat was still up, so much you could hear it a little.

That was understandable though, and you were glad he had calmed down. "Better?"

Todoroki nodded, and it was so subtle you had almost missed it. You let go of his hands. "Now go back to sleep, alright? I'll stay with you."

He nodded once again and you both laid down, you facing him, he on his back.

You put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he closed his eyes, both of you falling asleep almost immediately.

Once morning came and he woke up, Todoroki looked at the crumpled up bedsheets next to him, recalling that the events in his mind had indeed been real.

***

Shouto had never had that bad of a nightmare before. There were the usual ones, either with scenes from his childhood replaying, or new ones created by his mind.

He had never woken up so out of breath he didn't know if he would ever breathe normally again.

He always jolted up at most, taking a few moments to recall it was a dream, and then went back to sleep. Well, not really sleep, since he could barely close an eye after that kind of thing.