FireBlood (Guest): Thank you! And here is the next chapter!
9YearsOfMaka: Thank you so much for reading! And here is the update. (Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long to write.) Yes, it'll be a slow burn but it's Izuku/Tomura. (Although they retain that wary alliance/friendship status for a long time.) BTW, 'Maka' from Soul Eater, right? Loved that show! Also based BONES!
Notes: How the two ended up the way they were in chapter 1. Well, a part of it.
"...were confined for days... psychologically tortured... alone with a notorious villain, to boot…. And the culprits behind it all still at large. I do not want to scare you, but I do not want to make light of the facts either. All your teachers agree that the experience you've been through would leave marks even in a professional hero. There may be no apparent physical harm, but how your mind was affected is more important... Midoriya-kun... I hope I've outlined the need for these therapy sessions well enough..."
Izuku wondered if he were dreaming - again - when four fingers curled around his neck. Surely an event couldn't replicate itself so exactly. He was at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, he was even wearing the same T-shirt. The man who'd materialized beside him was also dressed in the same black hoodie that obscured his face.
"You're not scared."
Shigaraki Tomura's voice wasn't so much heard as it seeped underneath the skin, threading through one's nerves like wisps of inexplicably sharp smoke.
"Unlike last time."
Izuku almost wanted to laugh. Just when he'd been thinking how alike the last time…
"I... am, actually."
It's just that this feels unreal. Even his own words sounded like a distant echo. Izuku was actually glad of the tingling sensation along his body, at the coldness running down his spine. If he didn't show at least a hint of fear, he was afraid if it might provoke the other.
Shigaraki twisted his head, regarding him more up close.
"Shall we have some tea or something?"
Differences set in gradually.
For one thing, there really was tea. Held between his hands. It disturbed Izuku that he couldn't actually remember just how it had gotten there. Who had even paid for it? He had to assume, from lack of any screaming or police presence, that Shigaraki hadn't dismembered anyone for it.
He hoped. Fervently.
Perhaps he was having a very slow panic attack. The counselor had warned him about the possibility.
"If you come in contact with something that remind you of that experience... darkness, a confined room..."
Or the person who shared the experience.
They currently sat on a backless bench in a corner, away from the bustling crowd.
Izuku shifted his cooling hands so as not to let the drink slip from his fingers. He winced at the clinking of the ice and stole a furtive look at his... companion. Shigaraki didn't stir, sitting beside him like a statue, looking down. At least Izuku thought so. He couldn't tell with the hood and pale hair veiling the man's profile.
Something rough brushed him just below the collarbone.
Izuku blinked. He hadn't noticed the loose grip around his throat being removed. A jagged fingernail scraped along the line of reddened scabs that peeked over the loose hem of his T-shirt, making the hairs on his nape stand.
"...You've kept it."
What a strange way of putting it, Izuku thought. Except it was correct. The presence of the Recovery Girl at UA was common knowledge. If a wound stayed, that meant either it'd scar anyway or she had not treated it.
Izuku figured that the one who'd caused it would know whether it'd scar or not.
"Are you sure? It'd be no problem to remove. Besides, if you don't take care, it really might scar -"
"No, thank you. It's alright."
Izuku smiled awkwardly into the frowning eyes of the school nurse. Then he absently rubbed at the angry swell on his chest. The memory of the burn, the feel of crumbling skin and blood disintegrating - and the brief flash of absolute terror - it all came back -
Izuku noticed the old woman looking worriedly at his roving fingers and snatched them away, embarrassed.
"It's just - I'd like to have some evidence that... that really happened. The counselor said that I might - unconsciously try to forget the incident and that wouldn't be good in the long run. So… it's like..."
"... a reminder."
Izuku realized too late that he'd spoken aloud. A slight expulsion of breath was the only response from the other.
Four fingers wrapped around his elbow. Izuku tensed. Mostly from wariness but he was also restraining his own hand from moving towards the other's. It'd been almost a month yet the reflex that'd been built in apparently remained.
"We need a reset button."
"The action has to be something… impactful."
Izuku shook off the memory.
"How's your..."
Everything.
"...leg?"
By the time Izuku had decided he'd been ignored, a lanky leg snaked behind his knees. Before he could even utter 'Huh? Heh?' the leg lifted, swerving his feet off the ground along with it, tipping him. He flailed but he remembered the drink in his hands and clutched it. Why would you do that, you idiot - His brain intervened too late and he was falling backwards -
- Then the other's arm linked around his, jerking him back to the sitting position.
"Wah!"
Izuku lurched forward, feet planting a little too hard onto the ground. He glowered up at the man. The only movement from him was the red sneakered foot tapping a mocking rhythm against the ground, stretching languidly from the perpetrator leg.
You could have just said it was okay now!
Izuku had barely swallowed the angry retort when the other spoke again.
"So the media finally got tired of you."
"Uh... um, I guess."
For the past month, Izuku had dominated the headlines– Missing Hero Student Miraculously Returned! - There were days when he couldn't go outside the school grounds without bumping into a line of reporters.
The recent absence of his face from the news was partly due to the UA administration promising dire consequences to any media who'd dare approach one of their students - who'd gone through an excruciating situation and was still recuperating.
There was another reason, which only the UA administration and the police knew about, that'd led them to raise a metaphorical iron wall between Izuku and the media.
But Izuku had been religiously keeping up with the news. This had distressed both his mother and All Might. But he couldn't stop, even if he had to resort to staring at his phone on the school rooftop, or out on the veranda of his dorm at night.
Watching out for any news regarding the Villain Alliance.
Specifically, that of its leader.
But there hadn't been any. And he'd gone to bed every night with a hollow feeling squeezing his insides.
His last memory of the man consisted of a limp weight in his arms, blood welding their bodies together, the other's warmth ebbing away second by second as he ran blindly, borne aloft by One for All yet fear instead of power crawling along the whole of his body...
And now.
"Any leads?"
The curt question was clear enough to Izuku. He wondered how he should answer...
...Except there wasn't anything. It was possible that the police and the teachers were keeping things from him. But from the palpable frustration emanating from All Might and his police friend, it was likely they were getting nowhere.
"I...don't know? Still... under investigation, I suppose...?"
Izuku saw a brief tug of cracked lips. When Shigaraki tilted his head towards Izuku, there was a jeering amusement in his tone.
"I see."
"What about you?"
Izuku was actually surprised at how the other casually answered him.
"None yet. I'd prefer no development from your side, Midoriya. As I'd like to find them first."
The pale man swiveled his head to face Izuku fully. And the same pressure that'd descended upon Izuku the last time they'd met here struck him in full force. The sheer killing intent. Red eyes gleaming like fresh blood drops rippling upon a razor's edge.
"When I do, I'll let you know, Midoriya. You deserve that much."
And for the first time since this meeting, it truly dawned on Izuku that this - person - next to him was a villain. And along with it, the knowledge of what this man was capable of. What he had done.
He really should be trying to apprehend the man.
Of course, it would be foolhardy to do so. The risk was as same as their previous encounter, even if the villain had forgone the threat. But the possibility wasn't the issue.
What worried Izuku was that the thought of apprehending the villain had only just occurred to him.
Obviously the man noticed Izuku fidgeting. Four fingers dug warning into the soft, damp skin inside his elbow.
Izuku ground out more defiantly.
"Why... did you want to talk to me?"
"…There was nothing about me on the news."
Oh. Was he angry about that? As he'd been when upstaged by Stain or... glad?
"The police thought it best... not to release any information about you."
Izuku shuddered to think what'd have happened if the police and the UA hadn't managed to keep the detail about the villain he'd been... kidnapped with under wraps. A literal iron wall wouldn't have deterred the barrage of reporters.
"... And what did you tell the police and the UA?"
Ah. Of course, he would like to know about that. Izuku gulped. He put the now-lukewarm beverage carefully aside, he might need the use of both hands after all...
"...Pretty much everything."
He braced for the brush of the fifth finger. It never came. It might have been his imagination, but Izuku thought the grip actually loosened a little, as if the other sensed him going rigid and wanted to put him at ease.
"Everything."
The quiet way it was whispered compelled Izuku to offer more explanation.
"Uh, what the... kidnapper said about you, how you were the actual target... and, and how you came up with the plan to break out… and… "
The figure beside him bent forward a little. The sharp nose and the line of chin poking through pale locks. Izuku thought he saw bits of red along the cracks on dried mouth, and under the gossamer splinters of skin on ashen throat. Even later, Izuku couldn't figure out why that sight drove him to say the next words.
"...But I didn't say anything about the dreams."
Shigaraki didn't reply. Which made Izuku break out in a flustered, rapid-fire speech.
"I explained how the culprit's Quirk manifested the dreams, obviously. That was necessary for the investigation. But I didn't mention, er, the contents of the dreams… Not that I know anything about yours. Just some words, um, you mumbled whenever you woke up. You stopped doing even that later on... I don't think I remember most of them anyway..."
"And why not?"
Izuku stopped. He realized he was staring and whipped his gaze downwards.
"...I don't know."
A silence. Izuku thought the tickling sensation in his ear was due to nervousness. Then he noticed Shigaraki muttering to himself.
"...no… tact... irritating."
Izuku nearly wobbled when Shigaraki let go of his arm. Mortified, he looked down to see the pale hand settle on the bench – palm up, brushing against his hip.
Izuku experimentally shifted his weight. There was no reaction. Not that he could leave until he'd assured everyone's safety. He had to make sure that Shiragaki was gone first.
"So, was that... all... you wanted to talk about?"
"Oh, far from it."
The uncharacteristically cheerful tone jolted him. When the villain faced Izuku once more, he had on a smile that was almost serene. Which was no less scary than the maniacal version he usually had.
"I wanted to thank you, Midoriya."
"...Eh?"
"After all, you did your part. And Kurogiri told me how you handed me over to him, without holding me down for the heroes that came to rescue you."
Izuku cringed at the last sentence. It was like the villain had plucked at the string of guilt that'd been nestled inside, with a twang that ran - cut - painfully through him.
Thinking back, trying to hold Shigaraki for arrest probably would've been useless. There was no way he could've fended off Kurogiri in his condition, even for a short while.
As if that were an excuse.
He wasn't even thinking at that time. No - he was thinking of only one thing.
Please don't die, please don't die. Not after all that. Not now. Not like this.
"So... only common courtesy. Thank you, Midoriya Izuku. I owe you."
The overly polite, almost sweet voice made Izuku shiver.
"Er, I, I… didn't thank you either. You that got us out of there, really. So..." Izuku rambled, so as not to offend the villain, "...really, I owe you."
"Oh? It's good that you think that..."
Izuku froze. He had forgotten about that resting hand. Now it slid down his wrist.
"... There was one other thing I wanted to ask from you."
"Ah... oh... and that is?
"Truthfully speaking, I was beating about the bush because I wasn't sure. But now I am."
Calloused fingers tapped onto the fretting pulse.
"I want you to keep meeting me like this. When I let you know the date and the place, you'll be there. Alone. On time."
It took a while for Izuku to process what he'd heard. Even then, it didn't quite register. Izuku actually repeated the 'request' in his own words, received an affirmation, and among myriads of questions, could only croak out:
"Why?"
"There's something I need to figure out."
And what does that have to do with me?! Izuku nearly screamed. He opened and shut his mouth several times before he could trust himself to say anything.
"For how long?"
"Until I figure it out."
Shigaraki leaned over. Izuku automatically pulled back but the hand held his wrist in a predator's bite. It yanked hard, making him almost stumble into the man. Izuku could feel a whiff of Shigaraki's smell - like burnt ashes. The smell he'd gotten used to breathing in during their capture.
"The clandestine nature of the meeting goes without saying, of course,"
Izuku grit his teeth. Yet something inside him responded to the cadence of the other's voice. Deceptively soothing. Sticking to his body, dissolving into skin and blood.
It was the tone Shigaraki had used when Izuku was close to breaking down, in that darkness.
And this was why Izuku knew he was lying whenever his friends asked him whether he was fine, and he said yes.
He knew he couldn't say to anyone else that the first thing he'd felt when that pale hand had draped over him was relief.
The teachers and his counselor were right to worry. What'd he'd gone through - it'd affected him. Stayed with him. It made him unable to look at this - being - as just an enemy, just a villain.
"...And if I refuse?"
Shigaraki Tomura shrugged.
"Then you get to find out the consequences through the news."
...Even though he was MOSTLY a villain.
End Notes: Yes, the two already seem sort of touchy-feely but this is due to the particular experience they went through prior. (But maybe it can pass as natural for Shigaraki considering his Quirk.) Which will be explored next chapter. Lots of flashbacks coming. Hopefully I can make it not so confusing.