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For as long as Katsuki can remember, Izuku has been the worst sleep talker. Sometimes he even gets up and walks around if he’s in a deep enough sleep. There were many times during sleepovers as kids that it scared the shit out of him, like when he’d sit up suddenly and hover over him for a few minutes before rolling back over as if nothing happened. It was super creepy if you weren’t expecting it.
Luckily, after spending so much time with the nerd, he’s able to decipher when Izuku would most likely start doing crazy shit in his sleep because now he just finds the whole thing amusing. It’s funny as hell what Izuku will do and say in his sleep if you just keep talking to him.
With the implementation of the dorm system, Katsuki figures it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the extras witness Izuku’s moments. He, for one, can’t wait to sit back and watch the chaos unfold.
As it turns out, he didn’t need to wait very long for the first incident. It was about a month into living in the dorms, and everyone was just getting comfortable enough to start staying down in the common room more often. The awkwardness of living with your classmates was starting to ease, and people felt they could lounge around on the couches without judgment.
Some of the class was gathered in the common area when it happened, Katsuki was, reluctantly, helping the idiot duo study the material they went over earlier that day, and Todoroki was doing… whatever the hell Todoroki does when he’s in public spaces.
The front door creaks open and in walks Izuku, looking dead on his feet. Immediately Katsuki’s eyes are drawn to him (shut up it’s not what you think). His training with All Might must’ve kicked his ass.
“You look like shit” is how he chooses to greet him
He barely gets a hum of acknowledgment before Izuku is flopping down face-first on the couch. Before Katsuki knows it, soft snores are emanating from him. Oh boy, Katsuki grins to himself, this is it. When Izuku gets super tired and passes out from exhaustion, he starts talking in tongues.
He hears the tell-tale mumbling coming from the nerd and knows it’s only a matter of minutes before the crazy starts. The little gremlin inside of him is rubbing its little palms together maniacally.
“Bakugou I still don’t understand this problem”
“Are you shitting me? I’ve explained it to you three different times-”
“I can’t forget!” Izuku interrupts suddenly, and immediately all eyes are on him “Don’t let me forget to dress the bird in her Sunday best”
Todoroki and the idiot duo look at Izuku in puzzlement, probably wondering if there’s a quirk at play, but Katsuki knows better.
“Where is the bird going Deku?” he mischievously asks the sleeping boy
“America” he mumbles “Her toes get cold” Katsuki snickers and the other boys look positively lost.
“Uhhhh, is he okay?” Kirishima asks
Katsuki shushes him “Shut up shitty hair, just watch”
“Why do her toes get cold?” He asks, a smirk in his voice
It’s then that Izuku sits up and looks at them directly, eyes wide open “What? She doesn’t have toes” he lowers his voice and whispers almost conspiratorially “All Might took them and sold them on Twitter” After that declaration, he promptly falls back over and starts snoring again. Katsuki can tell that he probably won’t be talking again.
“Wha- who- toes??” Kaminari sputters, searching for an explanation of what just happened
“That was… interesting” Todoroki says
Katsuki laughs “That, fuckers, was Izuku sleep talking”
“Huh, I’ve never heard someone sleep talk like that before” Kirishima says, almost in awe “It was cool… creepy, but cool! You actually held a conversation with him”
“He’s been doing that since we were brats, it’s super fucking funny to see what insane crap he comes up with when I prompt him with questions” Katsuki chuckles “Plus, you guys haven’t seen half of what this nerd gets up to”
“There’s more?!” They all question him
“So much more”
_____
After the common room conversation, it’s like the floodgates open. It doesn’t take long for the next incident to happen. This time it stems from a very sleep-deprived Izuku.
It’s 6 am in the communal kitchen and only Katsuki and Momo are awake, politely staying out of each other's way as they go about their morning routine. Yeah, he can be polite, fuck you. He’s just finishing brewing his cup of coffee when Izuku walks in, steps slow and disjointed like he’s wading through molasses. The tell-tale sign that he’s sleepwalking.
He doesn’t say anything, choosing instead to open all the cabinet doors and leave them ajar as he moves around the kitchen.
“Whatcha up to nerd?” Katsuki asks innocently, sipping on his steaming cup of coffee
“I put my arms in here. I need them back” he mutters angrily, rummaging around in the pots and pans like if he just looks hard enough he might find a limb stashed behind the frying pan.
From somewhere behind him, Momo lets out a small noise of shock “Midoriya… you’re using your arms at this very moment” she says, looking at him nervously like she doesn’t know what to make of the scene.
“But the spiders on the ceiling- Billy needs my arms for the spiders” He directs his glazed-over eyes at Momo and she gapes
“Who is Billy?” she whispers to Katsuki
“No clue” he says, a laugh forming in his throat “He’s sleepwalking and has no idea what’s going on right now” he explains to her
She mouths a silent ‘oh’ in understanding “Then I shall take my leave” she says quickly “I trust you’ll get him back to bed safely Bakugou?”
“Whatever” It’s not like he can do much, you really shouldn’t wake a person when they’re sleepwalking. He might just have to wait it out and see if he goes back up on his own.
“It’s the damn refrigerator” Izuku mumbles, reaching for the fridge handle and pulling it open to stare inside “It killed Billy”
Katsuki huffs out a laugh, he never knows what’s going on in that nerd brain of his. Must be something wild.
It only takes a few more minutes of silent observing for him to stalk out of the kitchen and back to his room. Katsuki follows just to make sure he gets there in one piece (shut up, he could fall down the elevator shaft and die okay?!). It’s always baffling to see Izuku work the elevator or any kind of machinery when he’s asleep. It takes him back to when they were kids and he woke up one night to Izuku in his parent's kitchen making a pancake. He’d somehow mixed the batter and put everything on the stove while asleep. It’s honestly a miracle he didn’t burn their house down.
The dinging of the elevator breaks Katsuki from his reminiscing, and he watches as Izuku walks all the way to his door and gets into his room without issue. Tch, knowing him, he immediately fell on the floor and will wake up with a serious crick in his back. Damn nerd.
_____
The next time it happens, almost the whole class is there to see it. They decided to have a huge movie night in the common room and everyone was required to attend, much to Katsuki’s chagrin. Something about “class bonding”, or whatever sappy shit Mina is spewing this time.
It takes forever and a half for everyone to agree on which movie they should watch and by the time the opening scenes are playing he feels himself already going tired. The warm body slumped against his only adding more weight to his heavy eyelids. Izuku chooses that moment to let his head fall against his shoulder, effectively waking Katsuki up with the amount of adrenaline that pumps through his body at the contact.
Amidst Katsuki’s internal screeching at how psychically close he is, Izuku starts moving his head around. He’s very aware that a comfortable Izuku is also a very avid sleeptalker. Damn, maybe he just sleeptalks regardless-
A shout interrupts his internal thoughts, several people startle and a few go on high alert, looking for the cause of the commotion.
Izuku sits up and looks around with his wild eyes, focusing on nothing at all in the room “THE CLOWNS, THEY CAN’T ALL FIT IN THE CAR” he hollers, looking distressed “We have to put one on the roof!”
The classmates who have yet to witness this stare at him like he’s grown a second head. The few who have seen it before merely giggle.
“Kacchan” hearing his name makes him jump slightly, having not expected it “Kacchan” he repeats, staring at him directly now. No matter how many times he’s seen it, the blank look in his eyes still unnerves him “You can’t give the raccoon the cotton candy, it will dissolve!”
“I’m not giving it anything!” he says defensively
“It’s eating the cheese ravioli Kacchan” Izuku says, almost desperately
“Don’t worry nerd, I’ll stop it” he can’t help the smile that forms on his face
Izuku nods once and then goes boneless against Katsuki, signaling the end of his conversation.
“WHAT was that?!” Mina whisper yells across the room
“Yeah I’ve never seen Deku act like that before” Uraraka inputs, confusion clear in her voice
“Relax” Katsuki appeases them “He tends to sleeptalk, it’s pretty normal for him”
There are a few mutters that go around the room and he makes out a few shared sentiments of “Man I don’t know what counts as normal, but that sure as heck was not normal”
He looks at the sleeping boy beside him and his heart stutters, the sleeptalking and walking might be weird for some people, but for Katsuki, it just makes up one of the many facets of Izuku’s bright personality. Besides, they always have a good laugh after Katsuki tells him what he did the next morning, and he wouldn’t trade that small moment for anything.
Katsuki gently shakes Izuku awake when the end credits play. He cracks open his green eyes and looks around the room blearily, trying to get his bearings.
“Aw man” he croaks “did I miss the whole movie?”
“Yeah, it was shit movie anyway” Katsuki tries to console him (it actually wasn’t, but he’ll be damned if he tells anyone that the romantic movie pulled at his heartstrings)
Izuku hums, unconvinced and slightly sad. Katsuki scowls “We can just watch it again, you don’t have to mope about it”
“Really?!” He smiles widely at Katsuki “Kacchan wants to watch a movie with me?”
He’s glad it’s kind of dark in here so Izuku can’t see the blush rising on his cheeks “Sure, whatever nerd” Izuku gives a happy cheer, and then cracks a yawn
“Alright c’mon” he holds a hand out to help Izuku off the couch “Time for bed” Izuku readily takes his hand, the texture of his scars rubbing against Katsuki’s palm. If one of them forgets to let go as they walk to the elevator, well it’s nobody’s business but theirs.
Only the soft whir of the elevator can be heard when Izuku decides to break the comfortable silence “So, I had the weirdest dream about clowns-”