"Hello, how may I he- what in the hell? W-what are you doing here?" The receptionist's bright smile falters and she pales as Tomura, Twice and Dabi stroll into the pristine lobby, their footsteps echoing off of the marble floor. Tomura shakes his head and tsks, pocketing his hands in his jacket- slouching forward.
"That's not a very nice way to greet people." He replies simply and quietly. He never was one for rudeness. Villain or not, manners exist. If he knows how to use them, then there's no excuse for others not to.
"G-get outta here!" She visibly jerks away from the counter, pale and her mouth set in a thin line. Dabi chuckles and Twice yawns, already bored of the exchange and begins to look around the lobby, probably hoping to snag something as a souvenir. Tomura watches with a growing interest as she fights to compose herself and reaches for something obscured from his line of vision.
"I don't think so. Not after all the trouble we went to get here." Tomura saunters forward and rests his hands against the cool marble counter, tapping his slender fingers against it. Leaning forward, he offers a waning smile at the receptionist. Looking down briefly, he sees her finger hovering dangerously close over a small button that he can only assume is a panic button.
"If I were you, I wouldn't do anything stupid." Tomura eyes her shaking hand and slowly lowers all of his fingers against the counter top as a warning. She lets out a whimper as the only barrier between her and Tomura crumbles to ash. Whether or not it was an accident or the fact that she's more brazen than Tomura initially gave her credit for, she presses the button.
In the corner of his eye, he sees Twice jump slightly at the alarm that starts to ring out and Tomura motions both him and Dabi to him with a jerk of his head. The receptionist's eyes dart between Tomura and the two approaching men and he offers her no solace as he strikes out and touches her face with all five of his fingers.
She's allowed a single yelp in pain before her cries are cut to a choked silence, leaving only the shrill cry of the alarm ringing in their ears.
"Twice, take a look around upstairs. Dabi, with me." Twice salutes and darts up the stairs towards the office floors and Dabi follows Tomura through the Employees Only door.
"So," Dabi breaks the silence that had settled between the two of them, "This is your grand master scheme of the day? Robbing a bank? I didn't know that we were run-of-the-mill villains now." Even with his comment being nothing but a playful jab, Dabi isn't far from the truth. Ever since Kurogiri had decided it was a grand idea to up and get himself arrested, Tomura and his League have fallen into a particular string of bad luck. Just a series of unfortunate events that seem to constantly unfold and create nothing but more problems and headaches.
"I didn't realize that you enjoy eating trash." They continue to make their way down a set of stairs. There was a security guard that had tried to stop them earlier, but between the both of them- they made short work of the guard. Dabi scoffs behind him.
"Please. You haven't tasted trash until you've had my asshole father's cooking. A moldy sandwich is a five course meal compared to the shit he's made." Tomura raises an eyebrow and rests his hand against the door, the cold thick steel begins to disintegrate underneath his touch.
"Like your cooking is any better." He knows not to push too far into the sensitive topic that revolves around Dabi's past but he still can't lie. Dabi's cooking always comes out way too burnt for his taste. Just the thought of the black crispiness of whatever poor food Dabi tries to cook makes Tomura blanch.
"Let me stand correct then," Dabi leans against the concrete wall and watches the steel continue to deteriorate, "My cooking is like French cuisine compared to his." Tomura chuckles under his breath and pushes his palm forward, willing his quirk to act faster.
"French, huh? Some of us didn't have the chance to grow up pampered." He meant it as a joke but the silence proves that he struck a raw nerve. Dabi can't continue to live life thinking that he's the only one that had a rough childhood, Tomura bitterly reflects. He can't even remember his iown/i childhood up until his master came into his life and saved him from himself. Just trying to remember back to a time before he was even a villain gives him a headache and leaves a bitter taste in the back of his throat. Surely his own lack of childhood memories constitutes to something, right?
A mumbled "yeah, yeah." is all that he gets from Dabi but right now Dabi's daddy issues are none of his concern. His quirk finally eats through the remainder of the steel and he watches with lacking interest as the door crumbles away from its hinges.
"Give me five minutes and then you know what to do." There's a time and place for everything, but not now. Words of a wise sage echoes through Tomura's head. Idle chit chat can wait, there's a robbery waiting to happen.
"In case you forgot, Sherlock, the alarm got tripped. We ain't got five minutes." Tomura waves him off dismissively and takes a step into the vault with a briefcase in tow.
"Five minutes." Tomura repeats firmly. Behind him, he hears Dabi quietly mocking him.
BOOM
A wave of heat overtakes Tomura and his team as they walk away from the now crumbled and burning building. He slides Father off from his face and tucks it into his pocket with a smile. Somewhere behind him, Twice cackles and he hears Dabi's muttered comment of Twice ruining the moment. Tomura can't be bothered with the two's bickering and instead tightens his hold on the briefcase and radios in Spinner to pick them up.
There isn't anything that can ruin his day today.
"Yo, boss-man," Twice jogs up to match Tomura's pace and steps in sync with him, "How about we get a lil somethin' somethin' to celebrate?" Tomura glances back over his shoulder and spies the blue fire spreading, in the distance, approaching sirens are finally starting to drown out the cries of the League's most recent victims. Dabi steps up to Tomura's other side and casually lights a cigarette with a finger, trying to look bored but Tomura knows better. He can see the smug glint in his eyes.
"I thought you said that you quit smoking." Tomura waves away the smoke away from him. A flash of unreadable turquoise meets his gaze, before Dabi turns away.
"Easier said than done," Dabi shrugs, blowing a cloud of smoke up into the sky, "Bite me." Tomura rolls his eyes and turns back to Twice.
"What do you got in mind?" Tomura is in a good mood and is up to entertain the idea of a small celebration, Twice and Dabi have worked hard on this mission and they ido/i have a briefcase stuffed with unmarked bills. He supposes they can spend a little of it.
"Well," Twice stretches his arms above his head, "I was thinking of Chuck E. Cheese's?" To his right, Dabi snorts.
"We just committed a robbery, mass murder and arson and you want to celebrate at a shitty American pizza restaurant?" Twice jabs a finger past Tomura's face and points at Dabi with narrowed eyes.
"Sorry that some of us actually like to have a little fun in life. Not all of us can be sticks in the mud." Twice pauses and Tomura patiently pushes Twice's gloved hand out of his face with a sigh; patience is always a virtue when it comes to Twice.
"Was that too harsh? No. You know what? Fuck you, Dabi. Let me live!" Dabi flicks the cigarette to the side and grumbles something, Tomura doesn't bother to try to decipher what Dabi said- he's too busy actually considering going to Chuck E. Cheese's just to antagonize Dabi.
A black van whips from around the block and comes to a screeching halt in front of them. The door quickly slides open to reveal a grinning Toga. Twice and Dabi hop in, still arguing with each other.
"You know," a soft voice makes Twice and Dabi stop their fighting, "You always find a way to ruin my day." Toga leans out of the van shielding her eyes against the setting sun's rays and a wide smile with Twice leaning against her shoulder to get a better look while Dabi just stands there with an unreadable and stoic, nearly bored, expression. Tomura idly wonders if his scarification makes it difficult for the man to actually show emotion, he feels like he can count on one hand how many times he's seen Dabi smile in the almost two years they've worked together. Tomura turns around and sees Eraserhead resting against a lamp post with his arms crossed. Tomura spreads his hands at his side and allows a lopsided smirk.
"Strange, because my day is going just great." Eraserhead tilts his head and his golden goggles glint off of the sun's rays, momentarily blinding Tomura.
"Then it looks like I'll be the one that has to put a stop to that." Eraserhead finishes with a sigh, already reaching up towards his scarf. Without looking behind him, Tomura tosses the briefcase inside the van and takes a step towards the tired hero.
"Because that worked out so well for you last time," Tomura studies the hero before him and he taps a finger against his cheek- right underneath his right eye, "How's that scar treating you?" Instead of an answer, Tomura only gets a frown in response and he chuckles. He's been looking forward to a rematch.
His day just gets better and better.
Behind him, the van squeaks and a familiar figure slouches to his right.
"Still making your lackeys fight your battles, Shigaraki?"
"Lackey?" Dabi wonders out loud, "I-"
"Get back to the van." Tomura rarely interrupts and it's enough to shut Dabi up and he begrudgingly clambers back into the van. The forceful slam of the door lets him know that Dabi is more than pissed at being sent away like a child. It peels away right as Eraserhead activates his quirk by the telltale sign of his hair rising.
That doesn't matter though.
He has to blink sometime. When he does, Tomura will be waiting like a snake- ready to strike at any second.
A deep voice in the back of his mind announces 'iRound two, fight!/i' and he is more than ready.
So maybe since their last battle, Eraserhead has gotten stronger. Or perhaps there's now a personal grudge being held, seeing as Tomura's Nomu nearly killed the hero and Tomura himself was so close in killing one of his students. Either way, Tomura has to admit that he may have bitten off more than he can chew with this skirmish.
There's destruction all around them with half crumbled walls and tendrils of smoke that curl up towards the sky. Both men are pretty battered but as much as Tomura hates to admit, he's the one that seems to be in worse condition. Bleeding from several new cuts, he presses a hand against his side and glowers at Eraserhead. He feels a steady pulse of blood leaking from between his fingers and quickly begins to devise an escape plan. Sometimes when things go south, it's okay to run away and things are definitely turning south with this fight.
Eraserhead's quirk heavily outweighs Tomura's deadly one and he curses himself for not carrying weapons on him like the hero before him. He makes a note to take some of Toga's knives as a precaution for the future.
Eraserhead takes a step forward, favoring his left leg with a grimace. His hero outfit is in tatters and through a hole in his shirt, Tomura spies the working of his quirk- part of Eraserhead's stomach is decayed and the shiny red of his muscle is visible.
Eraserhead's quirk is still activated, Tomura is placing his bet that he's working off of pure adrenaline at this point; the man hasn't blinked in a long time and without that, Tomura is rendered helpless.
His eyes scan around the area and a flash of movement gains his attention. Unluckily for him, Eraserhead notices his break in concentration and rushes forward to finish the fight. As he nearly reaches Tomura, a goliath wall of twisting azure fire erupts from the ground and spreads quickly- surrounding Eraserhead in a tight circle.
A pair of gruff hands yank Tomura back and a screech of tires draws his gaze away from the blazing fire that's holding Eraserhead prisoner.
"You idiot." A voice hisses in his ear. Tomura twists around and is met with a disapproving glare of his second in command.
"I almost had him." Both Tomura and Dabi knows that that's a lie but Dabi surprisingly doesn't call him out on that and instead just rolls his eyes. With the sliding of the van's door, Dabi hefts Tomura up into it and slams it back shut. Tomura slides down against the door and closes his eyes.
"Here we go, blasting off again." Tomura lazily waves his free hand and opens his eyes again to find himself under a glare of scrutiny from Dabi. He watches as Dabi's eyes wander down towards the wound that Tomura is still covering with a hand and offers a noncommittal grunt before turning away and starts to dig for something in the back of the van.
Usually, Tomura is more than okay with long stretches of silence but the confined and tense atmosphere within the van makes him feel like he's suffocating. He begins to pick at his neck, just looking for something to distract himself from the growing feeling of the strained silence.
When Twice clears his throat, it's a welcome change.
"So-" Twice glances into the rear view mirror from his spot in the passenger's seat, "I take it we're not getting Chuck E. Cheese's?"
Author's Note
I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up writing a Shigadabi fic. This will be a shorter fic than my Dabihawks, just ten chapters. I'll try to make the chapters a little longer though.
I'm not sure if I want to update this biweekly or just weekly quite yet, I'll have to hash out a schedule.
That's it for now. Reviews are always welcome!
