You Know What? Fuck It.

Ok so we all write about big horny go getter Shigaraki, but what about sexually repressed, pent up Shigaraki

Bitch you K N O W I had to write it now

He’s trying not to look. He really is. Honest. No, really.

You’re frantically flouncing around the kitchen in nothing but a tank top and shorts -your “sleepwear”- at 2 am, desperately searching for something. He doesn’t know what. He wasn’t listening (truthfully, he couldn’t focus) when you asked him about it. Instead he went on autopilot, shaking his head while pretending he wasn’t lasciviously leering at the sight of so much of your skin on show.

Afficher davantage

Okay, so here's where we're at apparently

Tomura is dead

Toga is dead (or, let's just call it as it is, she committed suicide) - this is despite the fact that if she died other characters (read: heroes) should have died as well, but didn't (Bakugo and Edgeshot for example)

Dabi is presumably still in the hospital (since we didn't see a funeral), unable to move or do anything on his own

Spinner wrote his book, but where he is and how he's actually doing is unknown - presumably he still has to deal with multiple quirks that aren't his own and are tearing at his body

Compress is alive but where he currently is is unknown - he read Spinner's book (and that's it)

Kurogiri exploded?? And nobody has bothered to mention anything about him since

Twice has been dead for a while, but his murderer is not only free of charge but also the head of the HPSC (which still exists btw)

Other things:

The hero ranking system still exists

Seemingly no real changes have been made which would help victims like the LOV before they felt like they had to turn to villainy to be heard/seen/understood

Deku gets to be a hero again by the power of ~technology~ - kinda making the whole deal about him losing his quirk feel pointless

Not from this chapter, but I still feel like it's very important to point out that it's heavily implied that Rei is just gonna take care of Enji (her abuser) now and probably for the rest of time

The few good things:

Ochako bringing more focus on mental health

That was it, I have nothing else

most wanted man in the world is just some 21 year old with a reddit account btw

Always the writer, never the reader.

a new drawing hafl realistic Tomura.

Its not really new but i think i kinda mess up his jaw so i sas like no way i can share it...TvT😭😭

yandere!shigaraki x reader (university au)

set in the same au as this post ! just ended finals so it gave me an idea to write something. in this AU shigaraki never became a villain and is just attending uni like you and touya (he met AFO tho)

word count: 2082 tw: yandere, possessive behavior, obsessive behavior, stalking, toxic behavior, university au, manipulative behavior

✤you sighed for the umpteenth time that day. you had a final to pass and you didn't study it very well. you were right in front of the auditorium where you were supposed to pass your final, trying to memorize as much of your lesson sheet as you could, only managing to stress even more.

✤you waited a few minutes after the door opened, letting people go in before finally entering the auditorium. it was the biggest room of your university and it was quite impressive, not really helping with your stress. you roamed around the seats desperately trying to find yours.

✤after some time, you finally found it. you tried asking the blue haired guy who was sitting at the edge of your row to stand up so that you could sit but it was no use, he wasn't listening to you, he was more interested by the music in his earphones.

✤after hesitating for a while you decided to touch his shoulder, hoping that this way he would finally notice you. he did but when he looked at you he gave you a death stare, his red eyes piercing through you. you flinched but decided to talk.

"hum... e-excuse me, this is my seat."

✤you were cursing yourself inside for stuttering before he finally decided to get up and let you pass not before sighing loudly and muttering something you couldn't quite hear. you thanked him in a whisper before passing by him and realizing your seat was right next to him. just your luck.

✤you sat down, trying to collect yourself and to concentrate on your exam. you were taking out your pens while trying to remember your class as much as you can, only to stop after a short while because you saw that you were getting nowhere.

✤trying to destress a bit you attempted giving a look to your neighbor, trying to see what he was doing. he was quite handsome, not your mainstream handsome sure but definitely handsome. you bet girls were all over him, though he seemed to have quite the bad personality.

✤when your eyes met, you turned away, blushing. he definitely caught you staring at him. before you could even feel even more embarrassed the supervisors told you to put your bags and phones away before finally handing the exam sheets.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

✤your exam was finally over, you hoped your grader would take pity on you with the tears stain on your paper but you doubted it. the guy who was sitting next to you had already left by the time you were done so you could leave the row without any problem. before you left you saw that he forgot his earphones, you decided to take them. you'd give them back to him when you saw him.

✤you exited the auditorium, meeting some acquaintances, talking to them about exams. without any surprises, they all done better than you. while you were talking, you could almost swear you felt ruby eyes watching you intensely.

✤it was only a few days later, when classes started again, that you saw the blue haired guy. he was playing a game on his phone, sitting on a bench in the courtyard of the university. besides him was sitting touya, one of the most popular guy in the university and a blonde girl who was often hanging around them but that you didn't know the name of.

✤although you weren't sure if you should interrupt them you decided it was a good opportunity to give him back his earphones, maybe you'd even get to talk to touya ! but when you started heading over to the bench, touya and the girl left. looks like you wouldn't talk to touya today either, you were hesitating whether you should leave and try to give him back his earphones later when touya was here.

✤too bad for you, he noticed you and he even frowned when he saw you. you didn't want to be labelled as weird for staring at him again so you decided to give him back his earphones. you approached his bench, an awkward smile on your lips.

"hey... we were sitting together at the exam last week."

✤he raised one of his brows, unimpressed, waiting for you to keep going.

"you forgot your earphones, I came to give them back."

✤you searched for them in your bag before giving them to him, wrapped in a tissue so that they wouldn't get dirty. his look softened a bit when he saw them. he lifted his gaze up to you, you shuddered when his red eyes met yours, he really had quite the effect on you. you stared at each other for a while before he decided to speak.

"thanks."

"well, that's all I had to say, have a nice day."

✤you don't know what you were expecting but it wasn't something as quick as that. you started to walk away before you felt him grab your wrist.

"when is your next class ?"

"hum... in an hour I think.."

"then sit with me for a bit."

✤you couldn't make any excuses to refuse, maybe you just didn't want to refuse so you just sat next to him. there was a bit of silence before he decided to break it.

"i heard you crying when we were taking the exam."

✤you started blushing hard, embarrassed. you thought you were subtle about it but looks like he heard you. you shrank on yourself as he kept talking.

"yeah. the exam didn't really go well for me, I started studying too late..."

"well... in return for finding my earphones maybe I could help you with classes you struggle with. I think I can say im not a bad student."

✤your eyes started shining, before you got closer to him, grabbing his hand, which you noticed was gloved.

"you'd do that ? that would save my life ! but I don't want to bother you..."

"if im offering it means it doesn't bother me."

✤he looked aside, blushing a bit not anything too noticeable but he still blushed. he took his phone out before asking you for your number. you gave him and stayed with for a bit before finally heading to classes.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

✤you learned a bit about the blue haired guy. his name was shigaraki tomura, he was your upper classmate although he studies in the same major as you. he is always at the top of his classes without studying much. you also heard some rumors about him, one about his adoptive father who had ties with the university director but also the villain world.

✤however, you didn't pay much attention to it. shigaraki was a nice guy, although his personality was a bit special. he easily got irritated with the slightest inconvenience and sometimes he was a bit of an asshole to almost everyone but not to you at least.

✤you often met up at the library to study, he would teach you a lot of things. you were very thankful to him for doing that. nothing was forcing him to but he was helping. he really was a nice guy.

✤beside your study sessions with shigaraki you started to feel very uncomfortable when you were alone. you felt like someone was watching you, following you and examining your every moves. the discomfort grew even more when you heard the click of a camera, like someone had taken a picture of you when you weren't aware of it.

✤you began to always look back when you were walking alone, panicking whenever you could hear the footsteps of anyone behind you. you were pretty sure you had a stalker, you tried telling your best friends but they told you it was only an impression, that you were overreacting.

✤you didn't dare tell anyone else, afraid they would think you were crazy. you just kept quiet, your paranoia growing even more as each day passed.

✤your fear reached it's peak one day at the university. you were roaming through your locker, searching for a book you forgot before entering the library to study with shigaraki. however when you opened your locker, the book wasn't the only thing you found.

✤there was a letter on your book, by the way it was positioned it was clear that it wasn't just slipped inside your locker, someone must have opened it. you shivered at the thought, taking the letter and opening it.

✤inside it were pictures of you, not normal pictures but candid shots, photos you have never seen before and that you didn't know existed. now you were sure of it, someone was stalking you. but who would ? and why ?

✤you roamed through the pictures, some were taken at the university or in the streets but one of them really scared you. it was a picture of you sleeping, in your room, in your house.

✤you let out a shaky breath, terrified. how did they know where you lived..? you covered your mouth in shock, you checked the back of the picture and saw a few words written on it.

<<you'll soon be mine>>

"oh my god..."

✤you took a step back and bumped into someone. when you turned around you saw shigaraki standing behind you.

"you're taking a while for one book."

✤when he said that, you bursted into tears and hugged him closely. you stayed like this for a while as he soothed you. when you were calmer you explained everything to him: from when you started to feel like someone was following you to what happened just now.

✤just the fact that he believed you made you feel instantly better. he advised you to report the person to the police and he told you he would walk you home everyday. he did.

✤he would come get you before classes and walk you home after them. you would even study at your place sometimes because in public you were scared the stalker could take more pictures of you. although, thanks to shigaraki, you felt like he wasn't stalking you anymore. maybe you being with a guy scared him and drove him away. you didn't even want to know to be honest.

✤you got closer and closer with shigaraki, everything felt natural with him. and it was only a matter of time before you eventually started dating.

✤it all started with "unintended" touches, you would graze your hand against shigaraki's while looking for your pen. trying to grab his gaze whenever you looked at him. he was quite the oblivious guy because he seemed to never grab any of your hints.

✤it was only when you kissed him that he got the hint. you jumped on him after being tired of him ignoring any of your move : at that time he definitely understood.

✤you started dating at that time and shigaraki would never let go of you, always clinging onto you no matter what he was doing. you study together ? he would pull you on his lap, you were cooking ? he would hug you from behind, even when you slept he would always big spoon you.

✤at university everyone knew you were together, shigaraki was quite the jealous boyfriend. never letting any of your friend talk to you for long, you didn't mind after all they didn't believe you when you were talking about your stalker.

✤you also got to know better touya and the blonde girl whose name was toga, not that you talked to them much. shigaraki wouldn't allow it after all. you didn't really mind either.

✤you passed your year with outstanding grades and it was all thanks to shigaraki. he made your life so much better.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

✤you were sleeping on your notebooks as shigaraki watched you. he loved watching you, he always did. he took his phone out and took a picture of you. another one for his collection.

✤he was the one stalking you, he had been from the day you met at the exam. he pulled all sort of strings to make sure you two got close and the fact that your friend didn't believe someone was stalking you was a blessing for him.

✤he isolated you from everyone and you didn't even see he was the bad guy in the story. he had you all for himself without any effort. he pulled a strand of your hair behind your ear while smiling softly.

✤he was right when he put the letter in your locker, you were all his now.

“It’s not easy to talk about, but…”

Autistic!Tomura Shigaraki, QPR, GN!Reader, Discussions of Pain

The whole time you’ve known him, you’d never describe Tomura as someone who really complains. He’ll frustratedly talk about games levels that he’s stuck on or how hot it is, any little thing that doesn’t really matter, but if something is really, genuinely bothering him, he keeps it to himself.

It’s really hard for him to talk about the things that bother him, especially if the kind of help he needs is something he’d have to talk to a stranger about. You understand that he’s had a rough time with professionals, so you’ve never pushed him on it.

You were getting started on breakfast when he says he wants to talk to you sometime about something important. “It doesn’t have to be now, or even today, but just…. Sometime. Is that okay?” He’s clearly very nervous bringing it up, and you can tell it’s important to him. He doesn’t look at you when he says it, but that’s not unusual for him.

It ends up being almost a week later when Tomura approaches you again to finally sit down and talk. He fidgets with his phone, likely with notes of what he wants to say. He takes a deep breath before he starts.

“It’s not easy to talk about, but I don’t want to be in pain anymore… I just don’t know how not to be…”

You sit quietly, just listening to him talk for the longest time. He’s done a lot of reading and tried to figure out what’s been happening to his skin his whole life on his own but he just can’t do it. He’s tried soothing creams, numbing creams, anti-inflammatory gels, everything, anything, but they just makes it hurt more or make it hurt differently. He’s tired. Tired of waking up in the middle of the night unable to stop scratching. He tried wearing gloves to bed, he’s tried trimming his fingernails super short, he’s tried anything he could think of. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t causing open scratches all over his body all the time.

“It’s hard to take care of a body that burns and bleeds when you’re just trying to clean and care for it.” Tomura says, kneading the bottom hem of his hoodie with his hands.

There are the beginnings of tears welling in his eyes as he’s clearly frustrated and embarrassed at not being able to solve it on his own.

Eventually he gets quiet, and lays back. He takes a breath, before continuing. “I don’t even know if it’s a real itch at this point. I’ve thought about it being some kind of nervous tic, or compulsive behavior, maybe a mix of a few things, I’m just….”

The tears roll down the side of his face, but he wipes them on his hoodie sleeve.

“… I don’t want everything to hurt anymore.”

You ask if you can give him a hug, and he says yes. He sits up so you can wrap you arms around him for a moment. That seems to help soothe him, if only a bit.

It’s definitely a long road ahead, but you tell him that you can help advocate for him and be there to support him if he wants to find someone to talk to about these kinds of problems. He looks nervous at that, but you assure him that you can start as small as he needs to. He visibly relaxes, laying back down. He looks up at you, and pats for you to lie down next to him.

You lie back with him, just sitting there in silence for a little while. You know it’s not a lot, but just having you in his corner seems to make his whole disposition a little more hopeful.

Bloodline

summary: Tomura Shigaraki teaches you a lot of things. part two of good girl cross posted to ao3 word count: 4.4k content: Tomura Shigaraki x female reader, established relationship, explicit content, AU - no quirks, strict parents, oral (m! recieving), vaginal fingering, creampie, rough sex, praise kink

Tomura Shigaraki teaches you a lot of things.

He teaches you the secret tricks to win at mario kart online, he teaches you about the location tracker on your phone and how to disable it; your parents now being unable to watch your every move. And today he is teaching you how to fully take his cock down your throat without choking. 

“Relax, just like that,'' Tomura groans as he pushes deeper into your mouth. 

You have both been at this for a few minutes and you already feel the ache of your jaw as you try to accommodate for his size. Youve gotten this far before, able to take the head and a bit more, but never the entire length.

Feeling brave, you try to push for only a little bit more, before feeling the telltale jerk and gag as it hits the back of your mouth. Damn that gag reflex. 

“It’s okay,” he gasps, brushing your hair back with his fingers, gentle and warm, “you’re supposed to gag on it.” The grin on his face makes you wonder how much of that is true, but you’re eager so you don’t dwell on it.

Looking up at him with tears stuck to your lashes and drool trailing down your chin, you place a hand on his hip, pulling back a little so that you could stroke the remainder of his length with your other hand. 

The carpet was rough, digging into your knees as you adjusted your weight. You were going to figure this out by the end of the night. You were determined to. You sucked the head of his cock before pulling back to glide your tongue over the tip, tasting the salty precum before going in again.

This time you took his advice, relaxed as best you could and pushed past the uncomfortable sensation. Once you finally felt you were past that damned reflex it was easy to push forward. 

Moving your hand to the other side of his hip for better grip, you dove further and further. Trying to take him all the way to the hilt. 

“Ah, fuck…” you heard him groan above you, the hand in your hair gripping tighter. You could practically feel the restraint he had on himself to keep from fucking into your mouth. You weren't ready just yet. “That’s my girl,” he started, hand in your hair pushing you even lower, your nose brushing against the curly hairs on his pelvis. “Such a fast learner.” 

The grip he had on your hair never faltered as you strained to pull back, lack of oxygen becoming a little much for you. He relented, giving you a second to breathe before pushing your head back down, making sure you were comfortable before he brought his other hand to your head and snapped his hips forward. Resolve finally breaking as he fucked into your mouth, head thrown back and pace relentless. 

It was overwhelming, tears falling from your eyes from the sheer shock, but you wanted to be good for him. You wanted to show him you could take him, just like he knew you could. It didn’t matter if it was too much too soon, you would fight through it and adjust. Anything to make him feel as good as he makes you feel. 

You close your eyes, starting to enjoy the ride of him and allowing yourself to be used for his pleasure. When his hips slowed, you wondered if he was getting close. Looking up, you’re met with tomura’s red gaze peering back at you, and you can feel your slick wet your panties even more.

“My pretty girl,” he brings a hand to brush your hair back again. “Touch yourself.”

And you do. Legs parting as much as you could, ignoring the friction of the carpet on your knees, you trail a hand down, sliding between your panties and right onto that special spot that makes you see stars. 

Tomura is pleased by this, and you can’t help but moan around his cock. Watching as his head lolled back in pleasure gave you a sense of pride. Made you want to keep sucking him off, no matter how much your jaw started to ache in protest.

You relinquished control again, allowing him to grind into your mouth as he pleased, your tongue working under his gliding cock. His thrusts became more uneven and erratic, you knew he was close, so, you do what you can to make sure you come with him. Rubbing your wet clit faster with two fingers instead of one, the pleasure bubbling up inside as you near your end. You wished you had the angle to slip a finger into your entrance, but you don’t, it's alright. You‘ll make do with what you have.

Tomura takes both hands and grips your hair, giving a few more thrusts until he is pushing your head forward, making you take him all the way to the hilt leaving no room to back away or stop him. You feel the twitch of his cock as hot cum shoots down your throat. The sensation was one you were less than prepared for, but you do your best to swallow around his cock. 

You barely have time to think about the lack of oxygen the position grants you before Tomura is pulling you off of his cock and pushing you to lie on the floor. He spreads your legs, swiftly discarding your panties and taking two fingers, pressing them to your mouth. You take them in, coating them with saliva while maintaining eye contact. He huffs a laugh before taking them back and spreading your legs further apart. 

Your heart hammers against your chest in anticipation as he brings not one but both fingers to your entrance. His face focused and filled with want as he gives you one last glance. It makes you feel electric. 

He thrusts both fingers into your heat, the suddenness of it makes you moan, loud. His fingers are long and thick and it takes everything in you not to cum right away. You do your best to meet his thrusts with your hips, before he grabs you by the waist. 

“Stop,” was the only warning he gave you before putting one on your legs on his shoulder for better leverage. All it takes is a curl of his digits and you come undone. Bliss buzzing down to your bones as you ride out your high on his fingers. 

You look up and Tomura has that cocky smirk on his face and you don't know if you want to kiss it off or knock it off. You don't have time to dwell on it because your body is still reeling from waves of pleasure and Tomura is still pumping his fingers. 

The overstimulation is making you pull away, but his grip on your thigh makes sure you go nowhere. “C’mon, give me another one. I know you have it in you.”

Your body shakes as the sensations start to blend together, and you reach a feeble hand down to stop him. The aftershocks of your first orgasm quickly begin to build and build until you feel the coil of another threatening to push you over again. Tomura leans over your cunt, dropping a thick bead of spit right on your clit and rubbing the bundle of nerves with his thumb. 

This takes you over, your legs shaking and eyes rolling back as your second orgasm of the night wracks through you. “Yeah, that's it.” Tomura praises, fucking you through it with his fingers, wet noises filling the room. 

Your brain feels like mush as you fight to stay awake. Cumming feels nice, but you didn't want to sleep on the floor. Tomura believes you’ve had enough and takes his fingers out, standing up and walking to the en suite bathroom in his bedroom.

You hear the sounds of running water and battle once more to remain conscious. When he comes back you feel the warmth of a  washcloth cleaning you up and you’re grateful. 

He helps you to bed, legs feeling like jello and knees wobbling.

You felt like something fragile, like you would break at the slightest noise. The headspace you were in made you feel needy, like all you wanted to do was cling to him under the covers. And you did, your body meeting his as you can finally drift off to sleep in peace. 

—--

Something different was brewing under the surface of whatever you and Tomura shared. It was growing and it was hungry. It was something Tomura couldn’t quite place his finger on, but it was bubbling in the back of his mind and threatening to take him under. 

There was no time for him to dwell on whatever that thing is because right now? There was another problem staring him dead in the face.

“Ah, Tomura, hello.” The man speaks, breaking the uncomfortable silence between the two. Smile gracing his worn features, “what a pleasure to see you.” 

Tomura could think of a thousand other things that would be more pleasurable than having a meeting with his Father. 

“Father.”

His smile to others would come off as off putting, never quite meeting his eyes, but Tomura has grown to know it well. Even through the screen he could feel the waves of displeasure coming from the man before him. Previously sitting in the video chat waiting room, he could only wonder what reason this impromptu meeting was called for. 

“So I heard you have a new lady friend.” 

Ah. That's what this is about. Damn you, Kurogiri. Always a snitch. 

Tomura only shrugs, not seeing a point in discussing his private life. His father never interfered before, he doesn’t see why he should now. 

This seems to displease the man further, as he only purses his lips and tilts his head. Not an answer he was looking for. He decides to change tactics. “I didn’t know you wanted children, Tomura. And so soon!” 

His eyes narrow in response, unsure what game he was playing. “I don’t.”

The man before him smiles, light in his room shrouding his eyes in a shadow. “You're not acting like you don’t.” 

Tomura is quiet. He knew this father well, there was always a reason for his actions. Always a motive behind his intentions.

The man before him continues, voice lightly echoing through the screen, “Kurogiri tells me you’ve been more… active. You are free to do as you please, Tomura, but please remember that everything I am doing with this business is for you. If you expect to take over when I step down then I expect you to be a little more responsible.” 

He’s shocked, Tomura felt the familiar itch of his neck and fought to keep his hands from digging into the skin there. “How did you know that–?”

“You know Kurogiri takes out the trash. He buys things for you. It didn't take much to deduce you weren't using protection. Is she on birth control at least?” 

The silence gives him his answer. 

“Well that just won't do, will it?” he coos, knowing he has Tomura against a wall. “It’s alright Tomura.” He continues, solution on his tongue, sweeping the displeasure under the rug. “I will talk to the doctor and see if he can get you something for her. He will be in contact soon. I will check in again with you after.” 

There was no room for debate, no room for arguments. What he says is absolute and Tomura knows this. “Yes, father.”

—--------

The next time you meet, the air is different. Tomura is more reserved than he usually is. If you didn't know any better you would say he had been sulking. 

“What's your deal today?” you ask, flicking his forehead and biting back a smile at his halfhearted glare. 

He only shrugs, standing from his place next to you on the bed. “I have something for you.”

This piques your interests, eyebrow raised and smile dancing across your lips. “Oh? I thought you weren’t big on gifts.”

“I’m not.” He walks over to his desk, pulling out a package from one of his drawers, “but if we’re going to keep doing this like we are then you need to take these.”

He holds the case out to you, watching your eyes dart from his face to the package. “It’s birth control. We shouldn’t be reckless.”

“Oh, Tomura, no I can't take this.” you start, shaking your head, “and I can't bring this home to my parents, they would kill me. Where did you even get this from?”

“They won’t know. And my father is really good friends with our family doctor. You just take them once a day everyday and we can fuck without condoms with no problems.”

You frowned at the small box in your hand. “I don’t know. It sounds risky.”

“More risky than you turning up pregnant?”

“No, I guess not. Okay.”

His shoulders relaxed, tension leaving him. You went back to hanging out like normal.

—-----

“My parents have been getting more suspicious of Mina.” You say, falling onto the couch next to Tomura, over-buttered popcorn in your hand spilling a bit from the drop. 

“Oh, have they now?” 

You nod, taking a piece and popping it into your mouth. It was finally the weekend and Tomura promised he would watch this new thriller movie with you. 

“They say that it's not normal for me to hang out with a friend that much. Especially since they haven't seen her around as often.” you shrug, “they also aren't happy about my lack of location. I’m worried they’ll start snooping around my room next.”

Tomura places an arm over your shoulder, pulling you into his side and knocking more popcorn onto the couch in the process. Kurogiri will give you both an earful for the mess later.

“It’s fine. Worst case scenario we just lay low for a little bit. They can’t keep you under their thumb forever.”

He had a point, but you couldn’t ignore the pit forming in your chest. You didn’t want to have to sneak around all the time. There shouldn’t be anything keeping you from seeing who you wanted, whenever you wanted. You were an adult damn it. 

Especially not since you’ve started to feel… closer to Tomura these days. Before it was fun and things were done on a whim, but now? Now you felt sick at the thought of cutting him off. 

“If this movie blows, you owe me.” The rasp of his voice pulls you out of your thoughts. 

“It wont! The previews were really good.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled, playing the movie and reaching for the popcorn. You could only push your thoughts to the back of your mind, desperate to enjoy whatever you both had right now.

The movie was bad. It was cliche. Predictable. And Tomura was having the time of his life letting you know that. 

“And for her to go further into the house instead of just running toward the front door? Idiot.”

Your pride was too big to be put to the side. “Oh, yeah? Like you would have thought of that in the heat of the moment.”

He scoffed, “I would have.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Yes huh.”

You rolled your eyes, standing from the couch, relishing in the fact that Tomura was trailing behind you. Eager to talk about the movie and more into it than he let on.

“I’m just saying, you wouldn’t have had a chance unless you’re secretly some kind of murderer and know the tricks already.”

Tomura stopped, looking at you from across the kitchen island. “Who knows? Maybe I am. Maybe your parents are right about me.” 

You can’t bite back your scoff, placing the empty popcorn bowl in the sink and looking at him with a raised brow. “Oh really?”

He leans forward, palms pressing into the island counter. 

“Yeah,” he starts, a grin spreading along his face, “maybe I'm the big bad wolf they think I am.” 

You know that he’s trying to be intimidating, trying to tease you, but the drop in his voice only goes straight to heat between your thighs. You don't know what game he’s playing at, but you could take the bait. 

“Oh no,” you exaggerate, voice raising a few octaves, “that would just be terrible!” 

He takes a step to round the island counter, but you’re faster, dashing off into a sprint further into his home. 

The home was large, but you had been in it enough to know your way around pretty well. You took the familiar path to his room, (through the living room, up the stairs). After almost losing your footing on the stairs you vowed to never make fun of the horror movie girls who always seemed to fall at the worst time. 

Your breath was ragged as you continued, hearing Tomura’s steps behind you and steadily getting closer–

“Ah!” You cried, barely making it through the doors before being tackled to the floor, mercy not being shown as Tomura grabbed your hair, pressing you further into the carpet. “Okay, okay!”

He didn't let up, instead leaning forward, lips so close to your ear you could feel them, “I told you. The movie was bad, you owe me.”

You gasp as he stands, pulling you up with him only to push you onto his bed. You were giddy with excitement, barely able to raise up before Tomura pushed you back down, reaching forward to take your shorts and panties off in one swoop. 

The cool air made you shiver as you sighed in relief. 

Tomura laughs, bringing a finger to your entrance and sliding it along your folds, “Did me chasing you really get you this wet?”

You could only whine as he pressed a finger inside, resistance minimal. 

“I guess it can’t be helped.” The drag of his finger was slow as he pressed the small of your back, knees sliding further apart and exposing yourself to him more. 

“T-tomura, please!” you cry, begging him to go faster. “More.”

“Oh? You want more? Is this not doing it for you? Could have fooled me.” He pulls his finger out, a whine on your lips before he smacks your ass, no doubt leaving a mark, and grabs your hair again. He presses your face into the pillow to muffle your cry. “Shut up. I’ll tell you when you can get more.” 

He slides two fingers in, the stretch making you bite a moan into the pillow below you. 

His pace is merciless as he fingers you, mocking his earlier slow pace. A punishment of some kind since you were so desperate for more. If you wanted more then he would give you more. 

You couldn't quiet your mewls as he met the spongy bundle of nerves inside and you could feel your inner thighs tensing in anticipation as you grew closer and closer to your end. It was so close you could taste it. 

And then there was nothing. 

Tomura was cruel. He was cruel, and evil, and so fucking mean and you wasted no time letting him know these things. Only to get a laugh in return. 

“What? Were you close?” He mocked, bringing his weight down onto your back to whisper into your ear. “Too bad.”

You felt it then, the press of his cock along your entrance and whined. Tomura was too good at this villain role he was playing and you couldn’t stop yourself from getting even more aroused from the denial. You could practically feel yourself dripping in anticipation. His cruel words sending arousal straight to your pussy.

The way he towered over you only made you more eager. Crowding your senses and sending you into overdrive as you struggled to think clearly.  As much as you wanted to press back into his erection you knew that would only make him drag it out longer. 

Tomura was currently gliding his cock between your folds, the head brushing your clit and finally giving you some kind of relief. You felt him press harder on the small of you back, bringing your hips flush with the bed as he fucked between your folds. His cock meeting your clit at every thrust. Tomura moaned at this, his erection pressed between your warm body and the soft sheets. 

“T-tomura,” you moaned, letting your head fall to the pillow below you, “I can't take it.” 

Seemingly done with teasing you and at the limit himself, Tomura listened. Backing away to line up with your dripping cunt. The pressure was relieving, a sign that you would finally get what you want. But he stops, expecting, “what do you say?”

You bite your lower lip, frustrated at needing to do more. “Please, please give it to me, Tomura.”

This satisfies him, the press of his cock finally entering you has you both sighing in satisfaction. His slow drags quickly turn into full blown thrusts as he pounds you into the bed. You feel lightweight.

Your brows furrow as your hand grips the comforter below, the pleasure was creeping up again and it was only a matter of time before the rope inside you snapped. 

You feel Tomura grip your hip so tight you know it’ll have a bruise when this is all over, and he leans forward. Lips in their familiar place by your ear, “yeah, take it. Take it like a good girl.” 

It was impossible to stop the whimper as you felt Tomura’s thrusts getting more erratic. The warmth of his chest is comforting as he crowds over you. Feeling Tomura come undone is almost as satisfying as your own undoing. 

The way he bites your shoulder to quiet his own groans leaves you breathless. The pain mixes with the pleasure and you can keep yourself from crying out. You squeeze your eyes shut as your release washes over you, gripping his bedsheets below for dear life as the wind is knocked from you and the erratic thrusts inside you reach a new high. 

Tomura’s deep groan is the only warning you get before you feel the familiar twitch of his cock and warmth spread across your insides. His hips stutter as he rides out his orgasm, placing gentle kisses and licks onto your shoulder. Trailing those kisses up your shoulder and onto your neck, warmth tracing along the areas. 

He drops his head onto your shoulder, giving himself a moment before pulling back and out of you. You shiver as the once full feeling leaves you, cum trailing behind and onto his sheets, now in dire need of washing. 

This part is always your favorite.

It's soft, it's slow and it's calm.

Like there's nothing else outside of this room. No responsibilities, no time limit on a relationship, nothing. It's just you. It's just him and it’s all you want right now. You let yourself relax in tomura’s cloudlike bed, eyes falling shut. You’re surrounded by the cozy feeling and soft smell of his scent on the pillow. 

You could feel the fuzz of sleep taking over your brain and fought desperately to keep it at bay. You knew once you woke up reality would be knocking on your door. 

Your worries dissipate as you feel warm fingers brush your hair. 

You turn towards him and meet ruby red. Tomura was looking at you. Tomura was looking through you. It sent heat to your cheeks as you looked back. You close your eyes, leaning into his gentle touch. Tomura was very touchy. Like his hands could make up for the things his mouth couldn't say. You didn’t press or pry, it didn’t feel like your place. 

Tomura has always had his own way of opening up when he needed to. 

So for now you just enjoyed the feelings, enjoyed the butterflies dancing in your stomach and the feather light touch in your hair. You feel the press of lips to your temple and don't bother to hold back your smile as you drift off to sleep.

—----

You're putting on your shoes when you notice it. A compartment in your overnight bag was opened. One that you swore you had zipped closed before heading over. 

“Hey,” Tomura calls, from his place at his desk and breaking your train of thought. He reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a packet. “I have your dose for next month.”

You’ve become very familiar with the small pack of birth control pills over the last month. “Oh,  thanks.”

Tomura hums, attention falling back onto his pc and the youtube video playing on it, “Yeah, give me the old package.”

You take the item from his distracted hand and begin rummaging through your overnight bag. 

You frown, “I'm looking for it. It should be in my bag, I swear I brought it with me.” You feel your anxiety spike as you empty all of the contents of your cream colored bag, going as far as to turn it inside out. No pills.

Shigaraki isn’t bothered. “You may have left it at your place. It's fine. Just bring it to me when you find it and I'll get rid of it.”

“No, that's what I'm worried about. I know I put them in here.” Your heart sinks, you don't think they would stoop as low as to go through your overnight bag, but you know better. Your father knows no boundaries. 

Fuck.

—----

You make it home a little after the sun has set and you thank the stars that the living room is empty on your arrival. 

Actually, the entire house feels empty on your arrival. Your abdomen feels full of lead as you trek through your dark home. Too dark for the time of day. 

You could turn tail and run now. Quit while you're ahead and avoid whatever may be waiting for you, but you know that’s an over exaggeration. There could be nothing wrong. You steel yourself and continue to your room. 

The strip of light pouring from underneath your closed door has your palms sweaty as you swallow your nerves. You push your bedroom door open to be met with

Nothing. 

It is as empty as your home and you almost kick yourself for being so theatrical. You huff a sigh as you place your bag down and walk towards your bed. You're not sure how it slipped your sight the first time, but now you’re close enough and cannot ignore the note placed on your neatly made bed.

A note, handwritten and from your parents, with your empty container of birth control pills placed on top of it.

I'm not against this clown coming in my room, personally!

Enough to Go By (Chapter 4) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 4

You think about Tenko more now, but you’re allowed to – he’s your patient, and if he was your patient at the clinic, you’d expect to see him for a follow-up on the four gunshot wounds you cleaned and dressed. You’re allowed to think about him, so you think about him. You think about him a lot.

The thoughts take two directions. One is just wondering about him – how he’s feeling, how he spends his days, what he’s thinking about, what he thinks of you, whether he’s thought about you at all. The other is thinking about the situation he’s in. His parents and grandparents and his sister are dead. He’s been missing for fifteen years. He’s got a quirk and he’s a villain, ambitious and strategic enough to target UA High and escape alive, albeit badly injured. His guardian is a cloud of mist in a suit with some kind of split personality. And there’s someone else in his world – two someone elses. The doctor he referenced, who wouldn’t help him, and the one he calls Sensei, who gave him his new name and a hand to wear over his face and set him up to fail.

You think about Tenko a lot, but you can’t think about him all the time, because now that you’re a nurse, you’re twice as busy as you were before. The doctors expect more of you, and so do the other nurses – and so do the MAs and CNAs and high school students who are starting their apprenticeships, since you now have three years’ experience to go with your reputation for smoothing things over with difficult patients. Your friends keep you busy, too. They might call Kazuo to find out if something’s wrong with them, but they call you to find out what to do about it.

“You need to get a scan,” you say to Yoshimi for probably the fifth time. “I know you don’t want to –”

“It’s weird!”

“Not any weirder than whatever Yoji does when the two of you are at second base,” you say, and in the background of the call, someone snickers. If you had to guess, you’d say it’s Mitsuko – she has the guts to bully Yoshimi into making the call, combined with the brass balls to feel comfortable eavesdropping. “It’s called a mammogram. You’d have to start getting them at some point anyway, just like we all do. It’s just to make sure there’s nothing weird going on.”

“Stop it. You’re freaking her out for no reason.” Yoji’s there, too. “It’s probably just an STD.”

You’re stunned into silence for a second by the sheer classlessness of saying that about one’s own girlfriend, but you bounce back fast. “First of all, they’re called STIs, genius. Secondly, there’s not an STI on the planet that gives you nipple discharge. Yoshimi, get the scan. I’ll go with you if you want. Just get it done.”

“Can I do it at your clinic?”

“Uh –” You glance at the Imaging queue. Things look quiet, but you can’t count on that to last – but if you report Yoshimi’s symptoms, which include soreness, nipple discharge, and what she describes as a weird rash, you’re pretty sure the doctor on call will bump her to the head of the line. “Yeah, come in now. I can’t stick around after my shift, though. I have stuff to do tonight.”

“Ooh, stuff. Let me see –” There’s some rustling, which you can only assume is Mitsuko grabbing the phone. “Is stuff tall, dark, handsome, way too serious, and currently working as a sidekick?”

“That would be stuff,” you admit. “It’s not a big deal. We’re just grabbing a drink after our shifts.”

For the first time since you and Kazuo broke up, you have a date, and it’s Kazuo’s fault. Or maybe it’s you and your friends’ fault, because you decided to throw Kazuo a twentieth birthday party and invited a few of his friends from UA. One of those friends is Sugimura Hiroki, who fits perfectly with your type of dark-haired boys who want to be heroes and who’s so painfully shy that it took him six beers and the entire party to talk to you. You were sort of weirded out by that. You’re not very intimidating, and you spent the first half of the conversation trying to figure out if he knew you were quirkless, since you learned the hard way that it’s something you need to disclose up front. But the two of you eventually worked your way around to the point, which was that Sugimura wants to get to know you better, and he tripped over his tongue so badly that you finally just asked him out to end the suspense.

It’s taken you a while to actually schedule the date, but tonight’s the night, and you’re sort of anxious about it. Luckily, work is busy enough to keep you distracted. Your lunch break ends while Mitsuko is still going into increasingly nasty speculations about Sugimura’s physical attributes, and you hang up the phone without saying goodbye.

There’s a message waiting for you on your computer, from the front desk. FOF. Can you take him?

It’s not Tenko. You know Tenko wouldn’t come here again. You send the same message you did when it was him. How F are we talking?

Jumpy, talking to himself, chainsmoking. He’s in costume.

“In costume” could literally mean that the patient’s wearing a costume, but it’s also code for when the front desk thinks the patient’s a villain. You’re used to dealing with villains by now. Send him back.

When the knock on the door comes, you’re ready and waiting, and the CNA ushers in a tall man in a black-and-grey bodysuit – so “in costume” was literal this time around – and a paper bag over his head. You’re momentarily transfixed by the paper bag, and more so when you realize that he’s bringing a lighted cigarette to his mouth while wearing something highly flammable on his face. The CNA shuts the door and bolts. You face your patient and introduce yourself. “Have a seat if you feel comfortable doing so. What brings you in today?”

“I’m not – whole.”

That’s concerning. “Are you injured?” Your concern grows when he gestures at his face. “It would really help if I could see the injury. Can you take the bag off?”

He shakes his head. Instead he reaches into his pocket and produces a torn full-face mask. You look at him, then at him, putting the pieces together. “How do you feel right now?”

He doesn’t answer – maybe can’t answer – so you default to the face chart you use when little kids aren’t able to express how they feel in words. Your patient points to scared, stressed, anxious, angry. Then he throws in happy, possibly to mess with you, or to distract you from the fact that the first four emotions indicate that he’s ready to snap at any second. “How about this?” you ask, after thinking it over. “I can ask the doctor to give you something that will help you calm down –”

“Please!” The patient bursts out. Drug-seeking? “No, I don’t need it, sister! I’m so calm it’s hard to believe.”

“Okay, then we’ll just have it here in case you decide you want it. As an option,” you say, keeping your voice smooth and calm. “Either way, this is a quiet place to wait. You’re safe in here with me. And if you want, I can sew up your mask for you. Would that help?”

“You can do that?”

“Easily,” you say. “Can I see it for a second? I need to make sure I grab the right thread.”

The patient hands the mask over, which is a good sign. You’ve established at least a little bit of trust. You examine the mask and decide that you’ll need the thinnest-gauge needle and thread you have. “I can definitely fix this,” you tell the patient. “It might look a little rough, but it’ll cover you up like it did before. And it should last until you get where you’re going.”

The patient nods. You stand up. “I’m going to get some supplies, and a little anxiety medication if you decide you want it. I’ll be right back, okay? Just wait here.”

The patient nods again. Given how labile his mood is, you need to be fast about this, and get back before he gets upset or decides to leave. You step out the door and shut it behind you, heading for the supply closet, but you’re waylaid on the way there by one of the doctors. “We need you up front. Now.”

“I can’t. I have a patient, and he’s –”

“I don’t care. We’ve got a hero coming to visit, and we need somebody to keep things calm,” the doctor says. Shit. “Figure out what they want, get them as little of it as you can get away with, and get them out of here.”

“Which hero?”

The doctor shakes his head. Great. “Just hurry.”

You can’t go just yet. “My patient’s got a lot of anxiety and he’s in costume. I need him to stay calm. Can you –”

“2mg diazepam. I’ll put it in the chart.” The doctor unlocks one of the medicine cabinets, extracts a prefilled dosage cup, and hands it to you. “Go.”

Diazepam is long-acting. Hopefully long-acting enough to keep your patient quiet while you get rid of the hero. You skitter back down the hall with the dosage cup and hand it over to the patient, along with a tiny bottle of water to wash it down. “I’ll be right back. Just finding the right thread.”

The patient downs the pill dry, which is both good and bad for you. You shut the door again and head for the lobby. You don’t make it there. A cloud of black mist boils up around you, swallowing you whole.

By the time your feet hit the familiar wooden floor of the bar, you’re already out of patience. “No. Send me back right now.”

“Shigaraki Tomura has need of you. You will assist him.”

“Not right now I won’t. You snatched me from work,” you say. You’re facing the wall and the All Might poster again, and you don’t want to turn around. If you see Tenko, it’ll make it harder to say no. “If I go missing, people will notice. Is he dying?”

“No,” Kurogiri says.

“Is he in imminent danger of dying?”

“No.”

“Then send me back,” you say. If Tenko’s asked Kurogiri to get you, it means he needs medical assistance – or follow-up. You’ve needed to follow up anyway. “I can come back later.”

“No, I need you right now!”

“How much later?” Kurogiri asks, ignoring Tenko’s protest.

You think it over. You can dispense with the hero situation quickly, stitch your patient’s mask, and sneak out of work early. They’ll have to give you the emergency time off. You’ve never asked before in three years of working there. “Ninety minutes.”

“That’s too long. Kurogiri, don’t let her leave!”

“Ninety minutes. I’ll be in the alley behind the clinic.” You ignore Tenko, too, in favor of focusing on Kurogiri. He’s the one who decides if you leave or not. “All right?”

The mist wells up around you again, which counts as a yes. You land on your feet in the hallway, reorient yourself, and head for the lobby again. Tenko wants you again – needs you, your stupid brain corrects – but he’s going to have to wait for you to sort this out.

The hero in the lobby is Uwabami, the Snake Hero, and she’s got two sidekicks with her. No, students. You recognize one of them from your limited viewing of the UA Sports Festival and feel a spike of guilt run through you. She’s from Class 1-A. The same class Tenko tried to kill.

You don’t need to think about that, and you don’t need to feel guilty, because you didn’t do anything to her. You force yourself to focus. Uwabami wouldn’t have brought high school students here if she was doing any kind of investigating, which means your patient and any others who might be nervous around law enforcement are probably safe. The question of why she’s here still remains. You step forward. “Welcome to Yokohama Free Clinic South. What can we help you with today?”

“We’re on patrol,” Uwabami says. “My interns gave some feedback that our patrol involved a little too much publicity –”

The students look unrepentant. Good for them. “So we’re engaging in some down-to-earth patrolling,” Uwabami continues. “Tell us about how heroes support your clinic.”

Heroes don’t support your clinic. Most heroes strongly dislike the free clinic network, and the feeling is mutual, for a bunch of reasons you’re more than willing to articulate. Then you think better of it. Picking a fight with a hero in front of hero students is a bad move if you want to get out of here any time soon, and if you’re going to keep helping Tenko, you need to stay completely off the heroic radar. You focus on the students instead. “You’re on internships, right? They’re supposed to show you what life will be like as a hero.”

“Yes,” the girl who’s not from 1-A says. “They’re supposed to.”

“We have a program like that here, too,” you say. You gesture for them to come forward, and they desert their supervising hero at high speed. “A lot of our nurses and techs started working here in high school. Let me introduce you.”

You’re on much more solid ground talking about this. This clinic and this program saved your ass – without their sponsorship, you’d never have been able to get around your quirklessness as a barrier to nursing school, and you started getting on-the-job clinical training while most other nursing students were stuck in the classroom. You catch yourself evangelizing a little bit, but you don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world to do. You’re proud of the work you do as part of the clinic. It’s nice to get to talk about it.

You clear the hero students out in half an hour, hoping you’ve impressed them even a little bit, then hurry back to your patient. The diazepam’s kicked in nicely, and he chatters away to you while you stitch the tear in his mask. You learn that his name is Jin, or Bubaigawara, or Twice, which you’d guess are his first name, his family name, and his villain name, in that order. He doesn’t say how his mask got torn and you don’t ask, but you send him on his way in a better mood than before. “Thanks, sister,” he says on his way out the door. “You could be worse. You’re a saint!”

Different tone, different pitch, completely different meaning between the first sentence and the second. It reminds you of Kurogiri. You know enough villains now that you can compare them to one another. You shake your head, bemused, then head back inside. Time to guilt-trip your boss into letting you leave two hours early.

Your guilt-trip is successful, mostly because of how you handled the hero situation, but as you’re trying to sneak out, Yoshimi arrives for her scan. After you cajoled her into the office, you can’t abandon her to some random tech. You do abandon Mitsuko in the waiting room, though – she says the words “nipple discharge” as loudly as possible, then starts picking on the scant amount of makeup you did for your date. You don’t feel bad at all for leaving her behind.

Yoshimi’s scan goes quickly, and just like you feared, it nets her a follow-up appointment at the main branch of the free clinic tomorrow. Tomorrow’s your day off. You promise her you’ll go with her – you, and not Mitsuko or Yoji – then talk the doctor into sending her home with a dose of a different anti-anxiety medication than the one you got for Twice. Then you check your phone for the time. Almost ninety minutes exactly. You race out to the alley.

The mist engulfs you almost the instant you set foot in the alley, and you’re in the bar a moment later, facing Kurogiri. Tenko’s nowhere to be found, and before you can ask the question, Kurogiri turns and sets off through a doorway, deeper into the recesses of the building. You follow him, wondering if this counts as being taken to a secondary location. Or maybe the bar counts as the secondary location, even though you’ve been here before. Either way, you’ve listened to way too many of Mitsuru’s true-crime podcasts.

Kurogiri leads you into an absolutely filthy room. The floor is covered – empty wrappers, empty cans, old newspapers and magazines, plastic cases for game disks and chips. You have a bad feeling about who lives here, and when Kurogiri clears his throat and speaks up, you’re proven right. “Shigaraki Tomura. I have brought the girl.”

The only semi-organized spot in the room is a desk with two monitors on it, a keyboard in front of it, and Tenko slumped down with his head pillowed on one arm. He looks up, and for a split second, you can see that he’s happy even behind the hand. Then his face turns bright red and his expression twists into a snarl. “I told you not to bring her in here! Get out!”

You don’t need to be told twice. You duck out the door and retreat about twenty feet down the hallway, listening as Kurogiri tries to placate Tenko. “You asked for her to be brought to you immediately, not for me to summon you when she arrived. I followed your orders to the letter.”

“I didn’t want –” Tenko breaks off, swears. Then he mumbles something, and Kurogiri chuckles. “Don’t laugh at me!”

You check your phone. You aren’t supposed to meet Sugimura until eight, but you’ve got no idea how long this particular encounter is going to run. You might need to tell him you’re running late. You’ve just sent the text and tucked your phone away when Kurogiri reappears. “We will return to the bar,” he says. “Shigaraki Tomura awaits you there.”

So Kurogiri warped him to the bar. You wonder what that was all about. Was Tenko embarrassed that you saw how filthy his room was, or just embarrassed that you saw his room at all? Or did he change his mind about wanting you here? The last thought upsets you. You follow Kurogiri back into the bar and find Tenko sitting at the counter. It’s an improvement from the last time you saw him, when he was sprawled out and bleeding from four gunshot wounds, but this time he’s got his arms crossed, clearly pissed about something. His face is still red behind the hand. There’s a bloodstained bandage taped to his right shoulder.

A pile of supplies appears on the bar as you come closer. “What happened this time?”

“It wouldn’t stop bleeding.” Tenko uncrosses his left arm to gesture at the wound. “This is the fourth one I’ve used.”

If he’s gone through four bandages, it must be pretty deep. “How long ago did it happen?”

“Two hours,” Kurogiri says. “Shigaraki Tomura sent me to retrieve you immediately.”

“Can you fix it or not?” Tenko snaps.

“I need to see it first,” you say. You come a few steps closer, sit down facing Tenko on the barstool next to his, and reach for the bandage. He doesn’t stop you from unwrapping it, and you detour to glove up before you start peeling the fabric of his shirt back from the wound. It’s oozing blood rapidly. It’s jagged at the edges, and deep – if you suctioned the blood away, you’d be looking at exposed muscle, and you’re so horrified by the fact that Tenko’s been badly hurt again that you ask a question you shouldn’t. “How did this happen?”

“Hero Killer,” Tenko says, and your stomach lurches. “I thought he might be useful, but he’s just like the rest of them. Obsessed with the precious Symbol of Peace.”

You don’t know very much about the Hero Killer, except that he kills or cripples heroes and he’s not in Yokohama any longer. Tenko’s still ranting. “Why can’t anybody shut up about All Might? Don’t they know –”

“That he’s not gonna fuck them?” you interrupt, and Tenko nearly chokes. “I guess they can dream.”

Tenko’s expression is contorting behind the hand. You’re pretty sure it’s not the result of your explorations of the wound, because you’re not touching it. You watch, concerned, as his shoulders shake and his mouth twitches, until awkward, rusty laughter finally issues from his mouth.

You always try to make people laugh. You’ve been in the habit since you were little. It’s an effective strategy for defusing tension, whether the joke is funny or not, and your jokes are usually at least kind of funny. But you always liked making Tenko laugh when you were kids. You were always just a little prouder of that than you were with other people. Tenko made people smile all the time. He deserved for somebody to make him laugh, too.

Tenko’s laughter is brief and uneven, because he’s trying to get it under control. “Stop it,” he finally snaps at you. His mouth is still twitching. “It’s serious.”

“Right,” you agree. But you can’t resist another joke. “It would be a novel strategy. If you can’t beat the Symbol of Peace, make him unfuckable instead.”

“I can beat him,” Tenko says, but his voice is strained to the point of snapping, and his shoulders are shaking again. “Can you fix my arm or not?”

“I can fix it,” you say, “but I’ll need a suture kit. And I’ll either need to cut your sleeve or you’ll need to take your shirt off.”

“I’m not taking my shirt off.” Tenko’s face is red again. “It’s ruined anyway. Just cut it.”

You cut his sleeve open from the neckline and peel it back, then go looking through the medical supplies. Kurogiri took your advice about additions to their supplies, and nothing turned up missing at work, which means they honored your request to steal from someone else. You’ve got local anesthetic this time, which is good, because you need it. You start numbing the edges of the wound, asking every so often if Tenko can feel what you’re doing. When he stops saying yes, you open the suture kit.

It’s a bit weird, but putting stitches in is one of your favorite parts of the job. You can get in the zone with it, even when the patient wants to talk. Tenko wants to talk. “People talk about the League of Villains out there. Don’t they?” he asks. You nod. “What do they say?”

“Um –” You’re not sure this is an answer Tenko wants to hear. “They’re wondering why the attack on UA happened.”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Like, if there was a message behind it,” you elaborate. You need to be careful, with the stitches and with this line of thought. “More than just killing All Might, because lots of villains want to do that. If there was a message, it didn’t get out. The police and UA haven’t shared much information – not even how the breach happened in the first place.”

Tenko scoffs. “They don’t have a clue. They won’t see it coming the next time we hit them, either.”

He’s planning something else. Your blood runs cold, and for a moment you’re torn about whether or not to ask. Tenko makes the decision for you. “What else do they say about the League?”

“Not very much, otherwise,” you say, and Tenko swears. “There are a lot of villains, just like there are a lot of heroes. People talk about the ones they see the most of.”

“Which heroes do you talk about?”

“I don’t really talk about heroes.” You tie off a stitch, trim the thread to the appropriate length, and take another. “One of my friends has this nasty crush on Endeavor, so we talk about him sometimes, but otherwise – no.”

“Your friend has a crush on Endeavor,” Tenko repeats.

“Like I said. Nasty.”

You’re conscious of Tenko staring at you, and you will your face not to heat up under his gaze. You don’t even know why he’s staring, and you’ve got stitches to do, so it doesn’t matter. Your phone buzzes in your pocket – probably Sugimura, probably confirming your date. A date you’re not sure you want to go on anymore. Did you ever really want to go on it? Or did you just say yes because –

“You look weird.”

You look up from the stitches, startled. “Huh?”

“You look weird,” Tenko repeats. “Your clothes are different and you’ve got stuff on your face.”

Tenko and Mitsuko feel the same about your makeup skills, apparently. “Sorry.”

“Why do you look like that?” Tenko presses. You tie off his next stitch. “Are you going on a date or something?”

You answer without thinking about whether it’s the smart thing to do. “Yes.”

It’s quiet for a long stretch of seconds. “Go on your date, then,” Tenko says. His voice is flat. “I don’t need you.”

It stings. You don’t want it to, but it does, and you look down at the cut on his shoulder so he won’t see it on your face. “You still need a few more stitches. At least let me finish them.”

“No. Get out.” Tenko jerks out of your grip. You barely have enough time to cut the hanging thread on your last stitch. “I don’t want you here. Kurogiri –”

“Shigaraki Tomura, I’m not sure that’s wise.”

“I didn’t ask you!” Tenko swats at you open-handed and you leap backwards. “Get out! I don’t –”

You don’t hear the end of that sentence. Kurogiri warps you away too fast, and possibly saves your life. He drops you back in the alley behind the clinic, holding half a suture kit and still wearing bloodstained gloves. You peel them off and dump them into the garbage, furious with yourself. You shouldn’t have said that. You shouldn’t have talked about your life at all, and above all else, you should have remembered that you were talking to a villain, not your best friend – that whatever’s left of your best friend isn’t enough. He’s angry with you, and he’s been having you followed. Just how angry is he? Angry enough to hurt you? Or angry enough to never talk to you again?

You’re sickened and more than a little scared to realize that you’re more frightened of the latter possibility than the former. It’s entirely possible that you’ve never been in less of a mood to go on a date.

But you do go on the date, because you said you would, and it’s – fine. There’s nothing to complain about, but there’s nothing to be excited about, either. You and Sugimura hug to say goodbye, and you promise to text each other about setting up another one, and then you walk home. Mitsuko texts you, wanting details, or DETAILS, but you’ve got nothing to share. It was just a date, and no matter how many times you try to tell yourself otherwise, you’re angry about it.

Not because of Sugimura asking you out, not because you agreed, not because you went. Because you told Tenko and gave him a reason to get rid of you. Why does this keep happening? Why do you keep finding him and losing him, over and over again? What is it going to take for you to hold on?

“So how was the date?”

The voice emanates from the alleyway on your right and you nearly jump out of your skin. Tenko’s there, hand down from over his face, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He hasn’t changed his shirt. “I didn’t think heroes were your type.”

“They aren’t.”

“Then why were you on a date with one?”

“He asked.”

“And you just go with whoever asks?” Tenko looks half-incredulous, half-disgusted. You shake your head. “Forget it. Come with me.”

You shake your head again and take a step back – away from the alley, closer to the street. Tenko looks frustrated. “Come with me,” he repeats.

“What, so you can kill me?” You take another step back, well into the glow of a streetlight. You see shock flicker across Tenko’s face. “I don’t have a death wish.”

“Well, I don’t want to kill you,” Tenko fires back. He looks surprised at himself for saying it, but only for a moment – then he repeats himself, with more conviction. “I don’t want to kill you. You’re supposed to be my sidekick.”

Your jaw drops. “You remember?”

“I don’t remember everything.” Tenko takes the hand called Father out of the back pocket of his pants and studies it for a moment. Then he puts it away. “I remember that.”

Some kids played a different game every day. You and Tenko always played the same one, with a rotating cast of classmates at your side. All the heroes in the world were working together to fight one big villain, the worst villain the world had ever seen, and Tenko could never decide which hero he liked best, so he played a different one every day. But no matter which hero he played, no matter who else was playing with the two of you, you were always his sidekick. You reminded him every day that you didn’t have a quirk, and he always said the same thing in response, no matter which hero he was pretending to be that day, even though he didn’t have a quirk, either: You don’t need a quirk to be on my side. My quirk’s enough for both of us.

“Come on,” Tenko says again. He holds out his hand, three fingers and his thumb folded down, his pinky finger extended towards you. “Are you coming or what?”

You’ve never seen the world in black and white, but some things are unmistakable: There’s a line here, not visible to others but clear as day to you. On one side of it is Tenko and the darkness that’s swallowed him, the evil that surrounds him, the terrible things he’s done and is planning to do. On the other side is everything else – your dreams, your friends, your family that’s always loved you but used you anyway, a world that’s punished you time and time again for being born without a quirk, the knowledge that the world is so much crueler to so many others. You don’t think Tenko’s planning to kidnap you, to never let you leave. You’ll come back here, physically. You’ll go home and go to sleep and wake up early on your day off to take Yoshimi to her appointment at the main clinic, but you know instinctively that if you cross this line within yourself, there’s no coming back. Tenko was your best friend when you were five years old. Is he worth it?

You hate yourself for asking the question. You leave the light behind and link your finger with Tenko’s. “Where are we going?”

The black mist rises and wells up around you both. “You’ll see,” Tenko says, and for the first time since you found him again, he smiles.