Can't Sleep Love (tododeku) (complete)

Competition Prize

@Sk8terDenki

I'm so thankful for you being so patient! I had it half finished for so long but I finally manned up and finished it after being so unmotivated (because I wasn't finishing it haha)

So I hope you enjoy!

They huddled together in a relatively safe classroom of the ruined main building of UA; one of the most prestigious schools for those skilled in the arts, sports, sciences, and academics. Todoroki had managed to light a small fire, as he was always skilled with fire starting, especially with the help of accelerant, the smoke dispersed by the roofs before silently making it towards the sky. His partner, Midoriya, had gathered the firewood from the broken desks and chairs of the nearby classrooms. The two boys cuddled under one blanket, as the other had been lost in the most recent raid. Their stomachs were empty, with only grasses and the occasional insect being the only easily attainable resource within central Japan, every other accessible food store being raided by other survivors and the infected. Even though they were starving, cold, and uncomfortable, neither of them moved from their place under the blanket.

'Should we douse the fire?' Todoroki said to Midoriya, whispering, his eyes closed and weary. Their fingers were laced together between them.

'Do you think it will attract more? We hadn't seen any sign of them when we came here,' The other boy replied, shuffling closer. Todoroki shrugged his shoulders, not willing to move. 'It's so cold without it though. Our weapons are right here. We can defend ourselves if we have to,' he said with more confidence that he felt. Todoroki shrugged, starting to move. Since Inko, his mother, had died from radiation, luckily not succumbing to the infection, he had been wandering before finding Todoroki with his siblings in their home. They had stayed in the giant house for months until the food had run out. As a group they had moved across Japan, finding safety in the many broken apartments and department stores. One morning the boys went to gather supplies and came back to the most recent shelter aflame, blood coating the ground. He had forced Todoroki away before he could see his siblings' bodies, ravaged by the diseased.

They had travelled towards the school where they had both attended before the bombing. Finding it deserted, they had made it to the second floor and set up a small camp in the destroyed classroom. Now they shared their body warmth in the cold autumn night, their bodies intertwined.

Midoriya sighed. Todoroki lifted his arm and wrapped it across his body.

'The warmth is nice though,' Midoriya whispered, pulling Todoroki back towards him. They looked towards the fire, now sputtering, cold. 'I-I mean...' he stammered, blush rising to his ears.

'I know what you mean.' His grip grew tighter. The crickets started to chirp. 'At least we have no choice but to not worry about the smoke.'

'I'm so happy we found each other. You make me strong enough to survive.' Midoriya nuzzled his face towards Todoroki's chest.

'You make me want to survive.' A soft silence fell over the pair, the only sounds distant and soft. After being worked to the bone scavenging the day before, the soft hums of the world were like a lullaby. Midoriya's eyes fluttered open and closed, mind fighting the body's want for sleep. Todoroki noticed his drooping gaze. 'Sleep. I will keep watch.' At his words, the boy closed his eyes immediately, breath slowing. He was already asleep. And Todoroki had to protect him. While they had never encountered a former human here, there were traces of them visiting while they were away in the day; a bit of ripped clothing here, a splash of blood there. They were recently working on barricades, but they were hardly finished, or even started.

The hums from before were starting to grow louder, but Todoroki hardly noticed, his own eyes starting to roll back in exhaustion. Then darkness took over. A dream took over his senses almost immediately. Midoriya and him were sitting at the beach. The sunset reflected off the water in the most beautiful way. But his eyes wasn't on the vista. It was on Midoriya. The boy who had sought him out. Who had stayed with him this entire time. The only person he cared about who was still alive. The heat of the sunset was suddenly in his heart. How had he not realised this before? The sky suddenly expanded into the Aurora Borealis. Its beautiful dancing lights were mirrored in the eyes of his new love, well not new, he thought to himself. These feelings were always there. Even before the apocalypse. He reached out his hand towards Midoriya.

Boom... Boom... Boom...

Midoriya didn't reach out his own.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

It wasn't Midoriya. Not anymore.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Todoroki woke up with a gasp, a cold sweat coating his brow. He looked towards the entrance of the classroom. He shook Midoriya awake, hardly breathing.

Clambering hands ripped at the feeble barricades, both boys sitting up now, frozen in fear. Midoriya fumbled for his weapon behind him, not daring to take his eyes off of the monsters. But then their defences were broken. The infected were a hair away from them. One had an axe.

In a moment, Todorki rushed towards the accelerant. He saw the axe one second, and another he didn't. Heat rushed from his stomach. Midoriya yelled. The accelerant splashed on the floor and on the monsters. Then light filled the room. As soon as it started, the battle stopped. Todoroki fell to the floor, not daring to look down. The flames licked at the creatures, the rest retreating while the afflicted burned and bubbled.

Midoriya coughed, dark liquid pooling at his feet and in his mouth. He flopped down, limp, next to Todoroki, clothes red. Tears streamed from their eyes, mixing with the blood to turn the liquid pink. Neither felt any pain, the feel of their hands clasped together was too overwhelming. Todoroki sniffed. nails digging into Midoriya's hand.

'I can't wait to see my family.' His voice tried to be calm against the heat that was starting to rise in his stomach. Midoriya shifted his eyes to look upon the glowing silhouette of his partner. As the fire around them grew, spreading across the wooden floor, Todoroki's features lit up, as if they were both doused in beautiful sunlight.

'I'm sorry... I should have been stronger...I could have protected you,' Midoriya's face turned into a clenched grimace, eyes clouded with tears. 'I shouldn't cry. I'm not even hurt.' As he finished his sentence he coughed, blood splattering on the front of his chest.

'No... Hero's also have times when they cry... Maybe.' At his words Midoriya clenched his hand tighter.

'If..if we weren't about to die...' he breathed in hard, 'I'd umm..' he trailed off, heat reaching his face, battling with the paleness from bloodless.

'Kiss me?' Todoroki finished his sentence, his voice growing ever more quieter. At that Midoriya laughed, the fire in his guts turning his laughter into pained coughs. Even through the pain they met lips, the heat in his stomach fueling it. After the need to breathe got too large to ignore, they broke it, gasping. 'I think I love you.' Midoriya hid against his chest, their blood mixing in the loveliest way.

If this was the last thing he would experience before being lost to the flames, then Todoroki would thank the gods. But the heat of the fire were a constant reminder that the last thing he would experience would be the same fate of the infected. He gulped. This was no time to be fearful of the inevitable. Instead he held his love close to his heart. The heat hardly burned as it grew hotter and hotter and creeped closer and closer. All he focused on was the feel of Midoriya's breathing.

Smoke ran into the sky and he followed it with his own watery gaze. The stars were blocked out by something. And while the blaze took over his hearing, he could almost make out a sound he had almost never heard, and hardly remembered. It was like whirring wind. Of people shouting. His breath caught in his throat, though it filled with smoke. They were like the sounds of a helicopter.