#someday i'll figure it out but that day is not rn while work is kicking my ass

[bittybeanie]

serizawa hcs pt. 2

okay elaborating on the concept of Low Light Vision and just general night time serizawa bc i'm stuck on a longer fic rn and i keep getting distracted by the potential for soft domestic moments like-

you're never sure if he's home yet or if he's asleep or what, so you always call out that you're home in the quietest voice you can manage. sometimes he really isn't home and you get to take your shoes off in peace, but more often than not it's a guessing game of how bad he'll scare you by responding from WAY closer than you expected

serizawa taking your hand to lead you through your own apartment bc it's absolutely pitch black. if you had to you could probably navigate through sheer familiarity but he can actually see where he's going and it's just so much faster this way (especially if you're just looking for an object. he thinks it's so silly to turn on a light just to grab something when he can just tell you where it is. won't admit that he likes the way it makes him feel useful)

having to learn to navigate his apartment by feeling along the wall because half his lightbulbs blew out a while ago and he never thought to replace them because he just stopped turning the lights on. the one time he actually remembers to turn the light on because you're there and you literally don't know where you're going, you've never actually had the light on, so you end up moving along the wall anyway. (don't worry, he thinks it's endearing. he keeps the lights off from then on.)

he's used to not making a lot of noise for a couple different reasons, but mostly because he's up at all sorts of ungodly hours and never wants to wake anybody else up. also he just… doesn't move a whole lot? like obviously he moves around while he's doing stuff but if he's focused on a task he sits pretty still and doesn't realize he hasn't moved until his legs are asleep when he tries to get up or walk away.

he uses this to his advantage in order to surprise you in the morning with lots of different things. he folded all the laundry without having to turn on the light, so now your whole closet is sorted and nice and your outfit for the day is ironed and laid out. he stood perfectly still while making breakfast so that you didn't hear him shuffling around, and now he's presenting you with breakfast in bed.

of course, he also uses this ability to stay up late and play video games because, well, old habits die hard, but the benefits far outweigh the few times that he's sworn at the tv a little too loudly and actually managed to wake you up

i also just love the idea of you naturally starting to wake up around the same time every night because you know he'll probably be awake out in the living room. you used to try to coax him back into bed, and he would go willingly, but it was pretty obvious he was having a hard time actually falling back asleep. he would just… lie stiff as a board and stare at the ceiling.

so now if you wake up to an empty bed, instead of making him awkwardly lie there bored out of his mind for hours, you just grab an extra blanket and shuffle out to the living room to join him on the couch. if you say anything, it's usually only a sentence - maybe asking what game he's playing if it's one you haven't seen before or commenting that he finally made it past a part that was giving him trouble. most of the time, though, he just wordlessly lifts an arm up so you can curl up against his side and fall back asleep.

he knows you would gladly cuddle with him in the actual bed where it's probably way more comfortable, but something about the lack of pressure to fall asleep makes it so that he can trick his brain into actually making it happen. not long after you doze back off, he'll get hit with a sudden wave of sleepiness, and he'll just pause the game and set the controller on the table, leaning his head on top of yours and letting himself relax. he never sleeps for very long that way, considering it's a pretty painful angle on his neck, but he doesn't really wanna give it up either.

sometimes, though, you'll stay up with him and the two of you will end up in one of those conversations you can only have in the pitch black in-between of early morning. existential questions about your futures or pointless hypotheticals or arguments about which character in his game would be most likely to do something or laughing fits over bad dialogue and buggy movements.

these are the only times you really get to hear about his time at claw. it's not like he doesn't want you to know about it, but it's not something he can bring up in casual conversation either. he'll always hold you a little tighter while he talks, and you do your best not to interrupt and listen for him while he drags his thumb along the back of your hand, squeezing just on the wrong side of too tight, voice stiff with something you'd have a hard time labeling as anything other than dread.

he never asks "what if?" but the question always lingers in the air between you. you never answer. you don't see a need to when you have him here in your arms, breath shallow but steady, shoulders shaking but strong and solid as ever. instead you tell him what is in the form of your fingers lacing through his hair, pressing closer against his side, light kisses to his cheek, and the fact that the first thing he sees when he drifts back awake - no memory of falling asleep in the first place - is you.