#this is canon and you cant tell me otherwise
Movie night for Class 1-A always proved to be a lively affair. They always spent at least an hour before the actual start of the event chatting with one another about everything and nothing at all, preparing a smorgasboard of snacks, including an array of desserts made by Sato, gathering pillow and blankets to make a nest on the common room floor in front of the TV so that even those who didn’t manage to snag a spot on one of the couches would still have comfortable to sit, and arranging the couches so that they all faced directly toward the TV. Then, once the movie started and the lights were low, everyone would cuddle up with their classmates with heads on shoulders, legs thrown across laps, arms entwined, and so on. With darkness came the removal of the boundaries that usually prevented them from initiating physical contact with one another, and they got in each other’s space in whatever ways they were comfortable with.
Izuku saw it as an opportunity. While he and Shoto weren’t actively trying to keep their new relationship a secret, they didn’t exactly telegraph to everyone around them either. Shoto had expressed fear of the consequences that might come down on Izuku if word of it somehow made it to Endeavor, so they’d agreed to not tell anyone about it until they felt that the time was right. But with everyone cuddling up with each other during the movie, no one would think twice about it if they saw Izuku doing the same with Shoto. And because they’d chosen a horror movie this time, which Izuku was well known by now to not handle well, no one would bat an eye if they saw him clinging to Shoto like his life and safety depended on maintaining contact between them. It was the perfect set of circumstances.
That night, as the lights went down and the opening credits of the movie began to roll, Izuku made his move. As soon as he was sure that no one was paying any particular attention to where he sat on the nest of blankets and pillows on the floor, hip to hip with Shoto, he drew his knees up to his chest and pressed himself up against Shoto’s side- his left side, the warmer one- and rested his head against his shoulder.
“Scared already?” Shoto murmured, his tone teasing. “The movie just started.”
“Sssh, just let me have this,” Izuku whispered back. “This the only way I can cuddle up with you when there’s other people around without anyone thinking twice about it. Or, you know, putting two and two together.” Out of the corner of his eye, in the dim light from the TV, he saw Shoto’s gaze roam around the room, taking in their classmates cuddled up with each other in various combinations and hummed in understanding.
“But the movie is supposed to be really scary…” he said, trailing off.
“Don’t worry,” Shoto replied. “I’ll protect you.” One of their classmates- in the half light, Izuku couldn’t see who it was- shushed him when his response was a little too loud, and they fell silent as the movie began in earnest.
True to his past experiences with similiar such movies, Izuku found himself flinching and grabbing at Shoto with every scare. And true to his word to protect him, Shoto didn’t hesitate to gently turn Izuku’s head away from the screen and toward his own body every time one of the scares got him, letting him use him to shield his eyes from the sight of the danger, however artificial it may have been. And each time Izuku risked looking back at the screen to see if it was safe, only to be scared again, Shoto was quick to wrap his arm around him and hold him tightly. And if he took advantage of the darkness to stroke his fingers through Izuku’s hair and press light, comforting kisses to the top of his head, Izuku promised himself that no one else would ever have to know.
