~ Third Person P.O.V ~

With his knees pulled up to his chest, back prudently and tentatively pressed against the semi-smoother surface of the wall— Izuku sat on top of the hotel bed. Cheap, sandpaper-like bedding chafing and stroking his arms and legs as he constantly shifted his weight from one side to the other. Regardless of his somewhat alleviated mood, he was still rather guarded at the moment; yet for another reason than one would might think. After Kirishima had released him and Katsuki from the confinements of the tight spaced closet, the blond had excused himself outside— moments later Izuku had spotted a bug of sorts staggering across the floor.

Which in result ended with him on the bed and perpetually gazing around the room in search of his unwanted hotel guest over the course of the next few hours. Let that sink in . . .

Hours.

"Small Fry, what the hell are you doing?" Katsuki asked, his voice flowing through the once quiet air around them.

"What does it look like I'm doing asshat?" Izuku snapped back, "There are bugs everywhere in this damn room, and I can't wait to get out of here!"

Drawing in a breath in between his teeth, the blond scratches the back of his neck whilst looking around. "Yeah about that . . . We're going to have to stay another night here,"

With a now hunched over posture, and pink lips stretched into a tightly pressed grimace, Izuku heaves a groan. Emerald orbs darting around nearly every inch of the filthy room he resided in, it was stomach-churning at the thought of having to endure sleeping here again— even if it was for just another night.

Of all the hotel's we could have been stranded by.

"Why another night?" Izuku whined, squealing when he saw black configurations move in the corner of his eye. "I would rather take my chances with the Coyotes!" He huffed, eyebrows pulled together as he continued to gaze around the perimeter.

Katsuki cleared his throat, an action he used to preclude himself from laughing at the younger male's childlike outbursts; to which he found to be annoying, yet amusing all at once. "They couldn't find any oil for the Jeep, so a few soldiers are coming down to help,"

"Of course they didn't find any oil," Izuku muttered, "Just our luck,"

The blond cautiously took off his boots, setting them aside on the dresser and hopping on the bed— crawling back into his spot from the previous night. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm going to sleep,"

Pinching his face into an expression of perplexity Izuku's eye scan the walls in search of a clock. "Shit," He breathed out, "Is it really that late, already?" nine-thirty to be exact.

A seemingly harmless hour of the night, nothing too serious as most people would still be up. However, seeing as though the green-haired male was sitting on that bed watching the room around him for nearly ten hours had become concerning to him. That's when he realized—

"I need to eat,"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In short, Katsuki ended up stealing some food from Kirishima and Sero that night, in spite of their pleading to giving the food back he didn't. So while they went to bed hungry that night . . . at least Izuku didn't have to. It was a rather sweet course of action in Katsuki's case, not that he'd ever admit what he had done to another living soul— he had a reputation to uphold. After Izuku had finished eating Shoto had come back to the room shortly after, without uttering a single word to anyone he crawled into bed and went to sleep.

To Izuku, well the duel-haired male's action wasn't anything he desired to probe into. However, to Katsuki it was something that had conspicuously raised a few warning signs that clearly stated something was wrong. Yet seeing as though by then it was late he too had gone to bed— leaving Izuku to be the only one awake at the moment.

Dwelling on every little thought that made themselves known at the forefront of his mind, reading too much into them with each passing second. Anything to pass time. He wouldn't be going to sleep that night, just like last night, or the night before, and the night before. The Japanese-American hadn't gotten a good night's rest since he was taken from his family.

And so he'd just lay there, most of the time he'd go to sleep— only for a few hours until he would be inevitably shaken awake by one of the two men he was forced to be with. Of course, now he didn't mind Katsuki so much; now that they had come to a mutual understanding of one another it was easier to be there.

Izuku's eyes traveled over the room once more, sight dipping into the shadows and light sources the moon and stars provided. Each dulled and blurred configuration embedding themselves into his line of vision as he went along, over the dresser, recliner in the corner, curtains—

A shift in the bed is was prompted Izuku to put a halt to his gazing, green pools flickering over to Shoto's side of the bed. The eldest of the three was sitting up, head placed directly in his hands as he mumbled to himself— the words were incoherent and unintelligible, as they usually were.

This wasn't the first time Izuku had caught the heterochromatic male in this position late at night when he thought he and Bakugou had gone to sleep. And something told Izuku that this probably wouldn't be the last time he caught Shoto like this.

"So are you praying, or are you muttering to yourself because you're crazy? I'm going with the latter," Izuku commented hoarsely, keeping his voice low in the thought of the sleeping blond in the room.

"Excuse me?" Shoto scoffed, slowly turning to look at the boy with questioning eyes. "Why the hell aren't you asleep?"

Sitting up and resting back on his palms, Izuku cocks an eyebrow. "I asked you a question first," He pointed out, a smirk tugging the corners of his lips up.

"Fine. I guess I'm just crazy," The elder replied, sarcasm licking the base of his tone. "Now you answer mine," He demanded, shifting his body to look at Izuku's shadowed figure.

"I can't sleep,"

It was quiescent for a while. The air in the room thick with tension and perplexion, as the trio's breathing, filled the room as well. Katsuki gurgled inhales, most likely from drool, Izuku's soft breathing, and then Shoto's. That's it. Until the duel-haired male said—

"Alright, then we'll put that to good use. Get up and put some shoes on, we're going to go train,"

"Now?!" Izuku queried, staring at the other man as though he had suddenly grown two heads. "It's almost one in the morning,"

"So?" The taller of the two countered, slipping into his boots, "Hurry up,"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Strings of panting air dripped from Izuku's mouth as he lied flat on his back in the gravel, sweat pooling on his neck and matting his ringlets down to his forehead. The early morning sky greeted him with a taunting relaxation as the once pitch black atmosphere became an array of pink, orange, and violet hues— the stars long gone. He should be asleep. If he could sleep that is. Instead, he was out here getting his ass handed to him.

"Get up!" Shoto demanded, the front of his shirt barely matted in perspiration unlike Izuku's. He was clearly not using so much effort to get the small Japanese-American on the ground.

"Piss off," Izuku muttered, "I'm tired,"

With the soles of his boots crunching the ground beneath him, Shoto squatted in front of Izuku; a blank expression adorning his features. "Get. Up. Do you think the enemy is going to care if you're tired?"

"I don't know, and if I'm being honest I don't give a shit," The younger growled, running his fingers through his now slicked curls.

"Well, lucky for you my Captain does give a shit— now get up!" Shoto yelled, yanking Izuku up by the front of his shirt.

Balling his fists up and scrunching his nose, the freckled male grounds his feet as he sports an iced-over scowl. "Why are you such a jackass?" He asked plainly, watching in hidden amusement as Shoto's jaw twitched.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Izuku scoffed, "I know why I'm an asshole all the time, it's because I don't want to be here and I don't trust anyone— well, besides Bakugou. Speaking of him, the only reason he was an asshole to me is because he said it was easy to take his anger out on the new guy."

Taking a few steps forward, Izuku stops in front of the taller man; shoulders squared and back aligned straight. "Everyone has a reason for being an asshole, now what's yours? Because if I'm being honest I'm sick of your shit Todoroki,"

Shoto remained quiet, mouth hung agape and eyebrows pulled together as his mind races through the many thoughts compiled over the course of the past two minutes. But then he just wasn't. Wasn't moving, thinking, blinking, hell . . . he didn't even know if he was breathing at this point. He wishes he was thinking, damn it, he should have been. Maybe it was have precluded him from saying what he said, from doing what he did especially in front of the guy who brought on all these emotions.

But he wasn't thinking when he said—

"Fine, Midoriya, you want to know my reasoning? You. All my life I was taught that if I were ever imperfect there would be consequences, so I pushed, and pushed myself to be perfect at every little thing I did. And I was good. That all fucking changed when you showed up, first I couldn't read you, then my mission— the first big mission Aizawa entrusted me and Bakugou with went to shit the first fifteen hours!" The elder bellowed, his teeth gritting before he continued.

"I didn't know what to fucking do, then your smartass feels the need to make little comments at the worst possible moments! I mean, I can't even train you the right way! And it makes me wonder, was all those years of being physically fucking abused all for nothing? If I'm not perfect then what was the point of all that?"

He didn't mean to say it.

He shouldn't have fucking said it.

Izuku wouldn't understand.

Nobody would.

By now Shoto was sitting on the ground, head tucked in between his knees and eyes squeezed shut. However, that didn't preclude the hot moisture from escaping his tear ducts. Izuku kneeled down in front of him, tentatively placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You know," Izuku started softly, "My grandmother would say: 'The only reason a bully is mean is that nobody was there to stick up for them in their time of need'. You just need to find that someone,"