CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE - A REUNION OF SORTS

It had only been one long-weekend since Shigaraki had last been on UA High school grounds yet stepping out of the car onto the curb right at the front gates made him feel like he was starting right back at the very beginning again, year one - his very first day of high school. His nerves were shot, his stomach fluttering with butterflies.

He was so close to coming face to face with Dabi again.

It wasn't like he really had a choice either. The reunion was inevitable regardless of whether Shigaraki was ready to confront him or not. He couldn't avoid school; they were just weeks away from graduation and the interview and photoshoot with Juzo News was set to start in a short couple of hours. There was no way around it and Shigaraki would not only be forced to face up to Dabi but they would also have to spend the entire day together with only Takami and Mr. Aizawa acting as the smallest line of defense.

He wasn't sure how this was going to go. Would he be angry when saw Dabi? Would he break down and forgive him on the spot? Unlikely, but not impossible. He hated to admit it but he did miss Dabi, and he still loved him - flaws and all - so anything was possible.

Lost in the jumble of thoughts running through his head, the sound of a car door closing behind him made him jump and he jerked his head over to Kai who had joined him on the sidewalk.

He was glad that Kai was with him. His friend had been a pillar of strength and support for Shigaraki since the incident with Dabi's infidelity, and he wasn't sure what would've happened if Kai had not been there for him. Quite frankly, he did not want to think about it either.

"You good?" Kai asked, swinging his school bag onto his shoulder.

Shigaraki silently nodded and then tugged the hood of his sweatshirt over the top of his head. A simple yet effective comfort to him.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Kai said tentatively as they crossed the threshold of the public sidewalk into the school. "I'm sure Mr. Aizawa will understand."

"I want to do it." Shigaraki assured him.

Kai knew he had been apprehensive about the interview and photoshoot to begin with and then throwing in all that bullshit with Dabi had just made him even more anxious. But why should he miss out on this amazing opportunity because of Dabi? That was not fair, if anything Dabi should be the one pulling out, but they both knew that would never happen so Shigaraki had to make peace with it one way or another.

"Good." Kai replied, and even though Shigaraki couldn't see his mouth, credit to his mask, he could hear the smile riding his voice. "You deserve to be there as much as they do."

"Thanks." Shigaraki appreciated, bumping his shoulder gently against his friends. "It'll be okay." He added, blowing out a hard breath not sure if he really believed that everything would actually be okay.

"Definitely." Kai nodded. "You'll totally be busy, so you probably won't have to interact with… him anyway."

Shigaraki scoffed and shook his head. Kai's attempt to use pronouns as opposed to names did not go unnoticed. Actually, Kai had been trying hard all weekend not to use Dabi's name, referring to him only as him or he or even sometimes 'the asshole' when he really felt like it needed to be said.

"You can say his name. It's not like I don't know who you are talking about."

Kai snorted a laugh. "I know. But I'm kinda concerned if I say it too often, he might actually appear. You know, like Bloody Mary. Say it three times and bam."

Shigaraki rolled his eyes, holding back a chuckle. "He's not a fucking monster."

"I don't know." Kai joked, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's see… Dabi. Dabi. Da-"

"Maybe don't though." Shigaraki interjected, cutting him off.

Kai laughed briefly before his face turned somewhat serious again. They were approaching the main admin building and being that it was well before school hours the three people mulling about outside were completely conspicuous. Shigaraki was glad that Mr. Aizawa was already there and that he was the last to arrive - which was done purposely. Shigaraki wanted to show up right as the Juzo news car did to try and avoid any unwanted conversation and so far, his timing was perfect.

"You want me to hang around for a bit?"

"Nah. I'm good. Thanks though."

"Okay, cool. Cool. So, call or text or whatever if you need to." Kai offered, stopping short of the group of boys and tugging his mask down to his chin.

Shigaraki stopped too, looking over to where Dabi was slumped against the stair railing and then back to Kai. He hadn't noticed Shigaraki's presence yet, but he did look pretty downcast and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

"Yeah." Shigaraki confirmed with a nod, "I'll see you later."

Kai shared a tense grin and then lifted his arm, patting Shigaraki's shoulder. "Good luck."

Shigaraki scoffed again before they both moved off into different directions, Kai walking back towards the dorms and Shigaraki over to the admin building.

Another hard breath, Shigaraki stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and sauntered slowly over the sidewalk. His heart began to thump wildly in his chest, and he didn't dare look-up as he approached Mr. Aizawa, Takami and Dabi at the bottom of the steps.

"Tomura?"

His almost whispered name followed by the sound of fast footfalls did draw his chin up though, and not a second later Dabi was standing in front of him, the toes of his shoes almost touching Shigaraki's sneakers.

Neither boy said anything, though their silence was individually for very different reasons. Shigaraki felt an instant rise of anger swelling up within him as he met Dabi's luminescent blue gaze. Fuck. How could he still feel so much attraction to someone who had done him so wrong? He hated himself at that very moment, for not wanting to punch Dabi in his stupid handsome face. Dabi on the other hand looked almost hysterical, like he didn't know what to say or what to do.

"Dabi." It was Mr. Aizawa who broke the awkward silence, cautioning his student. "Get back over here."

"It's okay." Shigaraki amended, glancing at his teacher with a small reassuring grin before he looked back at Dabi, his smile fading once again.

"You don't have anything to say to me?" Shigaraki said flatly as Dabi just stared at him.

"Baby, I-" He paused, there was another brief moment of quiet and stillness before he suddenly wrapped Shigaraki up in his arms, drawing him into a tight yet unsought embrace.

Shigaraki didn't protest the hug but he didn't return the gesture either. Instead, he sighed, spiritless in Dabi's strong hold, his arms hanging listlessly down at his sides.

"I missed you." Dabi whispered, burying his face into the crook of Shigaraki's neck which was, regrettably, obstructed by the hood of his sweatshirt. Dabi so desperately wanted to feel his skin and breathe in his scent.

"Dabi, get off me." Shigaraki mumbled dully, his voice level and firm.

Smartly, Dabi had enough sense to comply with the request and moved back, though only slightly, and he kept his hands on Shigaraki's shoulders, like he was afraid he would leave again.

"Are you okay? I was so worri-"

"You know what? I'm actually fine." Shigaraki interjected, shrugging away from Dabi's incessant hands, and taking a step backwards. "No thanks to you."

Dabi sighed and swallowed hard. "I'm an idiot, I know I-"

"No arguments here." Shigaraki said, interrupting him.

"Can we…" Dabi started but he stopped again, glancing quickly at Mr. Aizawa before his eyes returned to Shigaraki. "Can we just talk for a minute? Please?" Dabi begged, trying to keep his voice low and their conversation as private as their public location would allow.

"I don't have anything to say to you right now." Shigaraki replied, taking another step away before Dabi grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"I just want a chance to explain."

"Dabi."

"I love you."

"Let go of me." Shigaraki insisted, trying to remove his arm from Dabi's grip.

"She kissed me; you know."

Shigaraki suddenly stopped struggling and went very still.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't kiss Rumi. She kissed me."

"You're unbelievable. Truly." Shigaraki responded, almost laughing. He shook his head and then yanked his arm away so he could put some distance between Dabi and himself. Turning, he began to walk away, towards the safety of their teacher.

"You don't believe me?"

Shigaraki stopped and swung back around. He wanted to be mad and put up a confident, brave front but he just didn't have it in him. He could feel the anguish replacing his initial anger and the tears that were beginning to well up in his eyes. He was tired of fighting for a relationship where Dabi could not see the error in his ways. Shigaraki knew he wasn't perfect but Dabi continued to let him down, time and time again.

"I don't care who kissed who." Shigaraki started, shaking his head. "That kiss, it was just the last fucking straw in a long line of fucked up ones."

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. You have to trust me. I love you. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Dabi." Shigaraki sighed, "How can you say that? You made the choice to lie to your family about who you were dating, and fucking demoted me to just a friend from school right in front of your whole family. And even after I made it very clear I was unhappy about that, you still did not make any effort to correct it, choosing, still, to ask Rumi to the prom even with all those rumors going around about us. Of course, she fucking kissed you. What did you expect? Her to shake your hand?"

"I didn't ask her to kiss me."

"Whatever. If you can't understand why I am so fucking hurt, then maybe you and I need more time apart. So, you can really think about it."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"How about i'm fucking sorry? Is that too much to ask?"

"No." Dabi shook his head. "I am sorry, you have no idea."

Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. "It's not enough, it really isn't."

"Please."

"Don't talk to me again." Shigaraki requested, turning back around so he could wait for their ride in peace.

"Seriously? So that's how you're going to be? We need to-"

"Dabi." Mr. Aizawa warned again, his dark gaze shooting over to him. "That's enough. Leave him be."

"But-"

"I'm not asking." Mr. Aizawa added before sighing wearily and rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what I am going to do with the three of you today." He said, shaking his head. "If there is any further fighting or arguing I will pull the plug on this entire thing."

"Hey! What did I do?" Takami threw in, though, he looked extremely proud of himself, that shit eating grin on his stupid perfect face making Shigaraki a whole other level of agitated.

"Nothing. Yet. It's still early."

Takami snorted and rolled his eyes. Dabi kept unusually quiet. Shigaraki wouldn't argue and he wouldn't be the one to pick a fight with either Dabi or Takami, in fact, he would keep his mouth shut and keep his distance from them both unless directed otherwise.

"Okay, good. I'm sure we can successfully get through this day then-" The honk of a car horn followed by another interrupted their teacher's lecture. He waved at the driver and then ushered the boys towards the large van with a shake of his hand. "Let's go."

Shigaraki was already walking though, and the driver opened the sliding door for him as he approached.

"Good morning."

"Hi." Shigaraki said, "Can I sit up front with you?"

"Uh, sure." The driver said, his cheeks flushing red as he quickly moved to open the passenger side door. "But maybe you would prefer to sit with your classmates? And Eraserhead would like to take this seat?" He questioned, tentatively.

"He can sit there." Mr. Aizawa granted, grinning as he waited for Takami and Dabi to get into the back.

"Of course." The driver nodded, closing the door behind Shigaraki.

Once they were all seated and buckled up inside the driver joined them in the driver's seat and then they were off. Shigaraki leaned his elbow against the door and rested his cheek in his hand. Behind him, he could hear Dabi and Takami chatting softly, though he couldn't make out what they were saying, not that he really cared.

"Hey." Mr. Aizawa said, leaning through the middle console so he could talk to Shigaraki.

"Hey."

"You good?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Mr. Aizawa offered him a genuine smile and patted his shoulder. "I'm glad you showed up."

"I said I was going to."

"I know you did. But I was a little concerned you'd changed your mind."

The driver coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly at their conversation.

"I did think about it."

"I understand." Mr. Aizawa replied, giving Shigaraki's shoulder a quick squeeze before he moved to sit back into his seat. They had a pretty good rapport, nothing else needed to be said.

Shigaraki smiled faintly and then resumed his leaning against the window, hoping the day would only improve from then on.