It felt like a split second later that he opened his eyes to the woman who looked concerned, and Oboro looking white as a sheet, his pupils so wide you could not see any red, but at least not shaking anymore, staring at Enji with – for some reason - horror in his eyes.

"I'm fine," said Enji immediately. "It's okay. It was my fault. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I'm fine." He did not think Oboro's eyes could get any wider but they did and a slight shudder shook him again. And then he went still, unnaturally still. Enji could recognize that stillness. He turned to the woman, with familiar effort.

"Enji," she said sounding grave. "I know you meant well-"

"I know," groaned Enji. "I know but I just-"

"You are a professional hero. Are those standard procedures when witnessing a panic attack?"

"Actually yes, in some cases?"

She blinked. "Sorry, I sometimes forget this is not my own native universe," she said. "Anyway, I know you meant well. And what you did, ultimately, was the best thing you could do to Oboro."

Was it? He had exacerbated it to the point Oboro had lost it and killed him. He ignored the refusal to be touched.

"Yes, ultimately, like I said. You're lucky that was what he needed. He needs to have someone to stand by him even after he killed them. Someone to forgive him that. Someone with whom he could safely break apart and who would not be scared to touch him. You must know that, despite all he had been through, he is the kind of person who is starved for physical touch."

Oh.

Still...

"Shigaraki, I mean Kokushibo Shigaraki, known also as All for One, was aware of this - he had a Quirk allowing him to see people's deepest needs. He made sure nobody would touch little Tenko but him, and even those occurrences were rare and made very special, a precious carrot, so to speak."

Enji wished he could kill the villain again. With his Prominence Burn. It was a much more horrible death than by Decay.

"So, Oboro needs it, but at the same time he is also conflicted about it for various reasons and he shall never ask for it. And he won't accept it from most. And when I say most..."

"I understand," murmured Enji even though he wasn't sure he understood the implication well. All he did was make Oboro feel even worse.

"Yes, and I am glad you understand what you did was wrong. You truly... well, 'fucked up'," she sighed, as if resigned that those words seemed to describe it best. "He was in a nightmarish condition, and you hugged him, and reminded him of his mother he had killed, and, most importantly, of that very first embrace of Shigaraki, the embrace he was given after wandering hungry and thirsty and scared and broken, the embrace that was a lie, just like his whole life. And yet another person comes and promises things are going to be better and offers a soothing touch. Another person much older and smarter and powerful and with their own motives. Another person who claims they know better what he needs, and ignores his wishes."

"I don't have ulterior motives! And I'm not more powerful than him! ...but yes, you're right. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's not about actual power. It's more about a position you have, and your whole life. You're the number one hero, a very rich person too, on top of your society. And Oboro in his own eyes, at least currently, is a total opposite."

Enji wasn't really sure he got it.

"Anyway, I can't laud nor condone what you did. But, in the end, it's good that you have done it. He needed that. He needs the touch, he needs to relearn all the basic pleasures that were always tainted in his life by pain, by itching, by his hazed by drugs mind. He needs someone willing to forgive him. He needs someone that is not perfect. The fact that you have made a mistake like that is actually a point in favor in his eyes. His father pretended to be perfect to his family, his order in their household was absolute, his demands final. Shigaraki, his Sensei, also always played the perfect caring Master, perfect smart villain, perfect powerful businessman, tutting over Tomura and his weaknesses and blunders. And you aren't perfect. Nor do you pretend to be so. You're not lying and he sees that. You apologized to him and admitted your fault. His sensei or father would never do that. But I have a crucial question - are you truly firm on helping him? Because this process will be lengthy and the last thing he needs is someone who would change his mind and leave him, deciding this is too much after all."

"Yes," said Enji, hoping she would see the determination in his mind and voice. "Yes. I won't leave him."

"Good. Remember everything I told you."

Enji nodded.

The time started flowing again and Enji turned to Oboro who still was looking at him with horror.

"I am sorry I made you do it," he said gently. "I am so sorry. This was the last thing you needed."

"N-no," the other man's teeth started clattering again. "You were r-right. It- P-pressure helps."

"I will be slowly releasing the spell, since your brain is fighting heavily against it anyway, Oboro. The attack will hit you again but I won't be stopping it anymore. It is never good to mess too much with the brain unless absolutely necessary."

Oboro nodded and sat back down on the ground, Mon-chan trying to get into his lap.

"I'll wrap you with the sheet from the bed?" asked Enji. He felt the woman's eyes on him. Oboro just shrugged. He rushed for the sheet.

"Alright, I am releasing my control."

Oboro immediately started shaking more violently, while Enji was still tightening the sheet, and he pushed his back against Enji's chest. Enji hesitated. ' he is the kind of person who is starved for physical touch' ' needs it but he is also conflicted about it for various reasons and he shall never ask for it'

"Um, maybe you want me... to after all..."

Oboro just shrugged in between the shudders. So Enji risked it again, this time promising himself to release the boy the moment he saw or heard the tiniest shade of protest. But it never came. So he tightened his arms even stronger and turned his Quirk stronger.

"Bite on the hem," he said gently and Oboro just did as he was told, which was actually very worrying and told a lot of his mind's state.

They stayed like that for a time much too long, it seemed almost an hour, though Enji couldn't be sure, with time that seemed to stretch infinitely while Oboro was curled up, now in Enji's lap, shaking almost constantly, Mon-chan licking them both and whining quietly.

Finally, the boy's muscles unclenched and shudders subsided, Oboro now going slack like a ragdoll, looking even more exhausted than before, though it had seemed impossible. Enji kept quiet, letting the boy decide on his own when he wanted to push Enji away and move back to bed. Oboro's eyes were unseeing again, seemingly not even registering Enji's presence or their position, for a quarter or two, before he finally sighed.

"M sorry I killed you," he murmured, nothing but weariness in his voice.

"I made you do it. I shouldn't have ever disregarded your protest."

Oboro slowly turned his head to look Enji straight in his eyes, again as if searching for any falsehood.

"I did. I'm sorry," repeated Enji.

An exhausted sigh responded. "...you weren't wrong. There are those... I don't recall what they call them... machines that squeeze cows and those hoodies for dogs. It works."

"Not always it's the best thing to do."

"Did not hurt me... Can't say the same about you."

"It's all on me."

Oboro did not reply to that for some time and reached out to stroke Mon-chan. "...gave you a fright, Mon-chan, didn't I." The softest exhale, a shadow of a laugh was heard. "You're both the same... I decayed you both in a fit of emotions and you still..."

"None of this was your fault."

Oboro turned his head again to Enji.

"Really. You, Number One Hero, are telling me none of what I have done was my fault. Do you mean all the people I killed, too?"

Enji knew well he was entering a very dangerous ground now, the one that had led them to all this.

"Yeah..." he said nevertheless. "If it was me... under All for One's influence..." he hesitated.

"Yes, hero?" Oboro asked slowly, tilting his head.

"Well, me, I'd most likely commit suicide," admitted Enji. "But I've been always weak."

"Weak? You don't strike me as such."

Enji shook his head. "I've been always weak and a failure," he admitted quietly, a tiny part of his mind marveling that he was speaking about his most private, hurting matters with very Shigaraki, still keeping him in his arms. Oboro's eyes widened at the words. "I did not help my son and broke him, I have abused and cheated on my wife, made my other children run away from me, and even the Number One's position was only granted to me by All for One."

Oboro just hummed. "Well, that makes you likable," he said tiredly. "I always hated you least, of all heroes. You seemed always so angry with this world... I suspected you were angry with yourself too, sometimes... All for One tried very hard to not let me like you. He always repeated how... you're the example of how stained the hero world is. ...but I still wondered. I preferred you to All Might, or Hawks, or Best Jeanist. I hated them. Pretending to be so perfect."

It would seem everything the woman told him was true. No wonder, she wanted Oboro to heal and take up his job one day after all.

Oboro sighed again and got up. "Again, I am sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"I have told you-"

"Yes, yes," he waved Enji away. "Don't tell Kurogiri," he murmured as he went into the shack, struggling with the sheet.

"Never. He'd kill me on the spot."

Oboro actually laughed softly and let Enji help him out with the sheet.

"Actually, I forbid you to tell anyone. I'll kill your Shouto otherwise."

"Hey, that's a very morbid thing to say lightly. And you have promised otherwise."

"I'll revive him later. Like, a hundred years later, so you would miss him badly."

Enji smiled. "Okay, that is a solid threat."

Oboro drank some water, ate a little more soup, and then threw his robe onto the floor to lay back on the bed with Mon-chan in his arms. Enji decided to settle on the floor, against the wall again to-

"Don't be fucking stupid. The bed is huge enough. You need some rest too."

Enji's protest died on his lips as a thought occurred to him, the woman's words in his mind again.

"That's really nice of you," he said instead, shedding his own suit. Oboro moved to the side of the bed, and Enji lay by the wall. The bed indeed was big enough to allow sleeping without unnecessary touching, even with Enji's posture. Not that Enji was all that tired, after having slept the whole day. But he supposed a little rest, with listening to the rustle of leaves, to night birds' songs, and distant roars and howls, would no go amiss. His life as a hero was always a rush after all.

Oboro was lying on his side, his back to Enji, again completely motionless. Enji wondered how much sleep the boy had since they came here. Wondered how much sleep he had during the last months and the 'preparation' his body was going through. If All for One knew Oboro had the Singularity Quirk he surely should have expected his body to naturally be able to handle the Quirks? Unless it all was just to destroy his mind even more, to make sure his consciousness would be easily defeated and his body taken over. Yeah, that was probably how it was.

They had been lying like this for a long time, not a single stir on Oboro's side, the Sun having risen, and climbing higher and higher, day birds replacing the night ones, and Mon-chan growling at foxes who were curiously approaching the door, Enji getting up only to feed the doggie and then going back to bed. Finally, even he slowly dozed off.

Somewhere in his light dreams he felt a movement but his mind immediately warned him against opening his eyes. He was pretty sure that-

Yes, Oboro turned to face him and moved very close, as close as possible without touching.

So Enji breached the last centimeters, pretending to be still asleep, and could feel the boy relaxing against his body.

'I always thought how I felt a crying child in him, back then, when our Quirks touched,' he recalled Izuku's words. Normally parents should nurse you properly into your teenage years, then help out through that difficult period, so you would be able to grow up into a proper adult. This boy here was twenty-one, merely twenty-one, and all his life was pain, and manipulations, and drugs. And All for One probably wanted him to stay immature, stay childish. That way he wouldn't be able to fight back properly against a seasoned ancient psychopath. That's why he was how he was right now.

Enji sighed. This was going to take a long time and he wasn't even sure he would be able to provide what such a broken human needed. But who else was there for him but Kurogiri who also was broken by All for One? And they couldn't just go to a therapist and tell him this whole story, could they? Shouldn't the woman have her own therapists, for the overseers? There probably were hundreds of universes. So she had to have at least one.

...unless she knew well Oboro would not go to any.

He sighed again. Oboro's breathing slowly became deeper.

Only to become quick and shallow, his heart beating fast. Enji opened his eyes and dared to stroke gently Oboro's cheek, only to startle him out of whatever nightmare he was having. Damn, Enji doubted the boy slept even half an hour.

He blinked confusedly for a second, but his eyes quickly focused on Enji.

Enji wondered if he hadn't just earned a kick back to his universe.

But Oboro just huffed. "Know that I'm letting you touch me only because I know you're compensating for Dabi," he murmured and closed his eyes again.

Enji smiled lightly. This was a very good excuse, he had to give that to the boy, so he kept gently stroking Oboro's light blue hair.

"...fckin bleedinheart," another murmur came and the boy fell asleep again.

Into another restless dream, his limbs jerking, breath hurried, the dream again cut abruptly much too soon.

And another. And another.

The only 'good' thing about this uneasy rest of the boy was that now Enji knew for sure he hadn't been sleeping at all all that time, just lying. He could see clearly Oboro wasn't motionless while sleeping. Nightmares plagued him. No wonder the panic attack was so strong, with all that had transpired, to which lack of food and sleep added.

It was only when the Sun reached the Western hemisphere that Oboro finally seemed to enter the more dreamless sleep, even if he still looked utterly exhausted and his breath still was too quick and shallow for Enji's liking.

And then Kurogiri appeared in front of the door, with Izuku.

For fu-, just when Oboro had fallen asleep!

'Quiet!' he mouthed frantically. 'He needs to sleep!'

Kurogiri just stared at them both and it occurred to Enji Oboro was sleeping in his arms now, both seemingly naked (Enji had his underwear on, of course, but Kurogiri couldn't know this), and, ah, right, Enji had this wonderful reputation of almost a pedo. Hawks was what, two years older than Oboro?

Fuck.

Kurogiri just stood there, gazing deeply into Enji's eyes, while his own spoke billions of words about endless, most imaginative torment if this was what it seemed to be.

"Dad's demi," murmured Izuku. "He wouldn't."

A sigh came from Oboro and red eyes opened. Enji shot a furious glare at Izuku before he could stop himself. "He barely fell asleep!" he hissed.

Oboro turned to them. "Hey, Kuro."

"I brought you some more food, Oboro. Have you been vomiting yesterday?"

Enji blinked at that. One'd think the dark mist user was an actual parent to immediately know these things.

Oboro huffed irritably and turned back to Enji.

Kurogiri sighed audibly. "Why didn't you tell me? You shouldn't have been forcing yourself yesterday to eat food like you did. I'll cook you something lighter."

"Thanks, Kuro. Stop worrying," came the murmur.

"If he's taking any advantage of you..."

"Nah, even he doesn't want me, Kuro, despite all my efforts."

Enji snorted lightly and shut up as Kurogiri glared at him.

"Are you really okay, Oboro?"

"I am. I..." Oboro sighed, apparently realizing there was no getting rid of his friend unless he knew the truth. "... had, you know, the attack. And. Endeavor here is, you know, a prohero. He says this helps."

"Does it?"

"It does. Kuro, we've been laying here for hours and his dick did not even twitch."

"...I did not need to know that much," murmured Kurogiri. "I am leaving the food in this backpack. I will come back with soups and drinks." He turned to Enji. "And I will have my eyes on you."

Izuku waved at Enji smiling and they both disappeared again.

Now Oboro looked very angry. "I'm erasing this memory from your brat's mind the moment I'm back."

"Don't be ridiculous. He is normal" He chose that word on purpose. "when it comes to touching. We still cuddle and sleep together."

Oboro seemed to be pondering it for some time. "...are you two asexual or what?"

"Touching doesn't have to be always about sex. I never understood the world's obsession with sex and nudity."

"Neither did I," agreed Oboro, sounding tired again. "What this world comes to, that I agree with a hero."

Then he curled up and closed his eyes. He did not push away Enji's arms.

...was this what future Shimura wanted? To make Enji mentally adopt him? The memory that seemed so distant now reappeared in his mind 'He doesn't deserve to be your son. You shouldn't waste a second of your time over him.' 'You should spit on a 'son' like this.' Was that it? Was he... jealous, somehow of the love Enji had for villain Touya? Did he want Enji for himself, as some substitute of a father?

Enji?

The same Enji that ruined his own family? Who had proven a parent so dismal Touya loathed him to the point of wanting to kill his own half-brother, and Enji too?

'He needs someone that is not perfect.' came the woman's words.

Enji sighed. He'd do his best. He'd lie to himself if he said he hadn't got attached to this boy already, despite everything. Some hero he was, cuddling this murderous villain, he smiled. But this boy wasn't really a villain. He had been killing, and he had been ruining people's lives, Enji knew that well, and a part of him, admittedly, wanted justice for that. He had wanted to kill his Izuku, back then, in that shopping mall, and Enji did not forget that. But the facts were it had been all All for One. And this was just a very broken, very tired child. And wasn't this what Enji had wanted to do, all those years ago? To save everyone?

...Yokumiru would probably be so appalled with his Number One. Hawks, however, would be proud. Enji remembered well how badly he tried to save Bubaigawara.

He carefully, very aware he might be permanently kicked out of this shack, put the most delicate kiss on the boy's head. "I'll do my best to help you," he murmured quietly. "From now on it only is going to get better. All this is past now, and there is no All for One in your future. The world is yours to shape." Hopefully, with Enji he'd shape it into something better for all the abused kids out there.

888

Oboro again was very restless and it wasn't until the Sun started to tint the sky pink that he finally stopped jerking awake and seemed to fall into a little more peaceful sleep. Enji's lids were also heavy by that time and he drifted away before he realized, with his arm surrounding laying against his chest Oboro, Mon-chan happily spread on top of them both. It felt much too soon when a movement woke him. His eyes met the red ones. Did Oboro looked a tiniest fraction better than before? And was it a good thing, now, when he fully realized what Enji had witnessed, when he realized that he awakened in Enji's arms? Shigaraki had always seemed so proud.

"What are you thinking about right now?" Oboro asked.

"...I was wondering if you're mad at me. Or at yourself. Or us both."

"What if I were?" Oboro asked in a suspiciously light tone.

Enji sighed. "I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it."

Oboro tilted his head a little. "And how does that feel?"

"...Like I was little again. When I couldn't do a thing against my parents. When my life was theirs." The memory of his father, beating him up, of his mother hovering over him when he had been lying on his stomach, cause he couldn't lay on his back because of the pain, telling him it had been all his fault, demanding from him to agree loudly, to seem sincere.

Oboro's face shifted and the somewhat predatory curiosity disappeared leaving only fatigue.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. The worst feeling in the world, to be fucking helpless."

"Yes," agreed Enji.

"Is that why you've been working out so much, why you've built this huge body?"

"Partly, yeah. I promised myself no one was going to beat me up again. One of many naive ridiculous promises I made back then."

Oboro hummed. "Look at this, we have something in common... ...don't you be afraid of me. I won't use my power against you. I can imagine if our roles were reversed... if I met a hero who would become god, against whom I could do exactly nothing. I'd be so. Mad."

"I'm not mad... ...but I hate knowing I wouldn't be able to save anyone if you decided they should be gone."

"Yeah, I get it," murmured Oboro and got up. Mon-chan started to bark enthusiastically at the backpack. "Someone got hungry," he added as if he had forgotten about the topic.

Enji stood up too and they fed the doggie without speaking more about it, then Oboro sat down on the threshold with a bowl of soup, while Enji chose fish and fries for himself. The night was starry, Secunda and Masser high in the sky, painting the trees in weird, un-Earth-like colors. A couple of foxes sat down nearby and watched them eating, unimpressed by Mon-chan's barks. Enji reached out for the backpack, found another piece of fish, and threw it. One of the foxes caught it in mid-air, with zero hesitation.

"Should you be feeding the wildlife?"

"I think they have been being fed by the players before. That's why they keep approaching us."

"Makes sense."

Enji threw another couple of pieces of meat to the foxes, to Mon-chan's curious observation.

"You were right, you know..." said Oboro finally, long after they had finished eating, a honeyed herbal tea that Enji had made out of flowers growing by the shack, in their hands.

"...I think you were right. And I think All for One knew this was how it would go. I... I just needed to keep killing. He eagerly pushed me to kill those two bastards who had bullied me when I wandered the streets. ...I was five. He must have known well what was happening in my mind and how to use it."

"...you wouldn't feel compelled to kill anyone if he had told you the truth."

"Truth," repeated Oboro.

"That your father's death was not your responsibility."

Oboro turned to him, unblinking eyes drilling into Enji's, intense and empty at the same time.

"I wanted to kill him. I did. I will not start lying to myself to feel better. You are saying this because you are afraid if I don't believe you, I'll continue killing and destroying."

"No. I am saying this because it is the truth. Who made you want to kill your father?"

Oboro kept looking into Enji's eyes, not responding.

"You were five. Kids that age don't make reasonable decisions. They are mostly built of emotions. Sometimes they find their parents to be beloved gods of their realm, sometimes they hate them for the tiniest reason. It changes from hour to hour. They are not mature people. They're just tiny souls that need help, protection, and love. Your father made your life hell and he brought his death upon himself. ...I'm not saying it should have happened," added Enji. "I'm not saying it was good, or right, or justified. He probably did not deserve death."

The smallest smile appeared on Oboro's face. "Probably," he repeated almost inaudibly.

"I won't say you've done the right thing, I won't say you haven't done a horrible thing. But it was him who made you do it."

Oboro kept watching Enji's eyes as if he wanted to see Enji's very soul.

"You really believe that."

"Yes. You were five, Oboro. You were just a tiny child, a little thing who was their parents' responsibility."

Oboro finally turned his face and reached out for Mon-chan, the dog eagerly accepting the petting. They heard a rustle from the bushes and a head of an imposing magnificent elk appeared above them. The animal looked at them shortly and ran away, startled by Mon-chan's barking.

"...You are a good father," Oboro finally said. "You would take all the sins of your children on your shoulders."

"You were five! You do no sins when you're five!"

Oboro looked at him again and his face softened. Enji never saw him like this. "You really think that," he repeated. He turned to Mon-chan again. "...Dabi is an idiot," he said, completely blindsiding Enji. Pain shot through his heart.

"No-"

"Dabi is not five anymore. He is not a child anymore," Oboro did not let him finish. "You are a good father and he is an ungrateful whining drama queen. He showed me this video of his. He painted you there as a monster. Did not really fit what I saw, back then, when he revealed himself to you. I... thought about you. Was that loving father behavior truly just an act as Dabi was telling me? Was he blind or did he think me stupid? Things just didn't fit, his story and what I saw. Anyway, in this video, he had that moment when Hawks is killing Twice. At first, I knew Hawks was going to die, and die a slow gruesome death."

Fear gripped Enji's heart.

"But I am not as stupid as Dabi thinks me to be. So I asked Chikazoku to show me the whole recording. It never even occurred to Dabi I would. Chikazoku loves his hi-tech toys, the cameras even had the audio too. Funny things I saw in it. I saw Hawks, a hero, a traitor, doing his best to convince Twice to give up. He should have just killed him. It would be quick and he wouldn't lose so many feathers and time. But he faced Twice, with Twice's powerful Quirk, revealed what he had been doing, risked everything. To convince him. And Dabi? Dabi attacked Twice, sure Hawks would protect him. And you know what? He was right. The traitorous hero shielded the villain with his own body, while our 'friend' Dabi would attack him. He stated out loud he never cared about us."

"I'm sorry," said Enji.

Oboro blinked. "I'm not. I don't care about him anymore. I kept him around because I was curious about what he would pull off next. And he was useful, I must admit that."

"No, I mean I am sorry for who he has become."

"...do you have a short-term memory disorder?"

Enji sighed.

"I have told you, he is his own person and makes his own choices. And he is a fucking dick, that's who he is. And you are a good father. Look me in the eyes and tell me you really were as bad as he is saying."

Enji looked into his cup. "...I used to be obsessed with a dream of becoming the Number One hero. And I wanted to have a child who would continue on the same route. I wanted them to have the best Quirk possible, both for them to be safer in their hero work and for them to be the most powerful, better than others. I have chosen my wife based on the Quirk she had. I did not believe in romantic love."

Oboro was listening curiously.

"Everything was, more or less, fine. Both I and my wife came from abusive households, so... we weren't perfect people-wise, weren't a perfect couple, but it wasn't bad... even though I always saw her more as a mother to my kids than as my wife, a person who had her own dreams and problems and issues. I mean, I saw them, I knew them... but children always came first."

Oboro smiled a satisfied smile at that as if he was proven right.

"And then it appeared Touya's Quirk was burning his own body. And he still stubbornly wanted to be a Fire Quirk Hero, just like me. I planted my dream into his head, I praised his Quirk as stronger than mine, and he wouldn't hear about giving it up, or at least training Quirkless."

"Oh, I can imagine. He always seemed even more obsessive than me."

"We tried and tried to convince him but he wouldn't stop burning himself. I couldn't look at it. I was worried sick. I was taking it out on my wife, blaming her for not being able to persuade him. I was a hero, I was barely at home, I always expected children to be more of her responsibility."

"That was really shitty of you."

"...quite an understatement," sighed Enji. "So I thought... he wants to become a hero because he is obsessed with me... he truly was. Only I mattered in his life. So maybe if he hates me... he'll stop."

Oboro's eyes widened a little. "...You started beating him up."

"No!" Enji was appalled. "I was just... pushing him away. Being cold. Ignoring him often. Being unkind. I knew it was horrible for him. It was breaking him. I thought he'd hate me, he'd hate heroes and would be safe. And I was right. He'd come to hate me and heroes, he had," he ended dryly.

"So... you weren't beating him up?"

"Oboro, you can still turn your kid's life into a nightmare even without beating them."

"Oh, I know that," Oboro chuckled wryly. "My father only once struck me. So, were you starving him or not letting him into the house or-"

"No, I'd never do to him what your father did to you!"

"Exactly."

Enji sighed. "Just because your father was a horrible man doesn't mean I was a good father to Touya."

"No, you weren't a good father to him, perhaps. But when your daddie gives you a cold shoulder you just show him your middle finger and you get on with your life-"

"Oboro-"

"Maybe cry a little and go to your mum or break your toys or stop doing your chores and homework or something. You don't make an 'I'll slaughter all my family' drama out of it."

Enji fell silent suddenly realising why Oboro could never understand or like Touya. He regretted his mother and sister's death. Even father's death apparently pained him, as had been proven yesterday. And Touya wanted to kill his own family.

"You're a good father now, and Dabi is an asshole. Fuck him. You apologized, you love him, if he threw this away, fuck him," he growled angrily.

Of course he wouldn't understand you couldn't just say 'fuck you' to your own child. Well, at least a normal parent could never do that. Still... Enji thought about Oboro's words, thought about Oboro's father. ...was the boy thinking, somewhere deep, what it would be like if he had a dad like Enji? How things would go if his and Touya's places had been switched?

"Thank you but I really am not... or at least was not as good a parent as you think me to be."

"You're so stubborn," huffed Oboro. "You want me not to blame myself, and you still-"

"You were five, I was thirty-five when Touya died."

"And I'm twenty-one and just a moment ago was killing people."

"That was All for One."

He expected a burst of anger for, again, claiming Oboro wasn't 'his own person' and his choices weren't his but Oboro said instead, "And what happened when he 'died'?"

"I... couldn't bear blaming myself. Well, I was incapable of blaming myself for anything since I left my mother's home... I poured all the pain and fault onto my wife. I made her life a nightmare."

"...so, you also have been living for years with the burden of having killed your family, and were destroying things..."

"But it truly was my fault."

Oboro went quiet again, slowly petting Mon-chan's head. "Thanks for telling me this, Number One," he finally said. "Does all this seem equally surreal to you as it is to me? I sit here, with my long-dead, killed by me, beloved dog, and I exchange sad origin stories with a Number One Hero."

"And you're also an overseer of the Universe."

Oboro snorted lightly. "Honestly, it seems less unrealistic than speaking with a Number One hero almost as if we were friends."

Enji smiled. "I can adopt you and then we'll become not even friends but family but you'd have to promise not to kill again."

Oboro grinned. The smile was genuine and, for the first time, he looked young, looked his age, no, actually even younger, almost like he still was a child. "You can't adopt an adult man. And besides, who starts an adoption offer with conditions?"

"True," admitted Enji. "Sorry for that. I should have done that after you have agreed."

Oboro was still smiling, looking at Secunda in the sky. He looked so different from his usual self, even if he still had dark circles under his eyes, his body was covered in scars, his lips chapped, his hands veiny.

"This soup is delicious," he finally said. "I used to be nauseous all the time, or had no appetite, everything always hurting or itchy or irritating... Now I eat... and can feel the taste properly."

' he needs to relearn all the basic pleasures that were always tainted in his life', the woman's words came to him.

"So that is why Kurogiri is such a good cook?"

"Yes," Oboro's smile became even warmer. "He knew... almost nothing tasted well to me. He knew I often was forcing myself to eat only because I wanted to be strong and grow tall," He chuckled here. "Did not succeed in that, did I? ...and he would go to all lengths to prepare the most delicious things he could think of, learning new recipes, buying weird ingredients from overseas..."

"He is a good family."

"He is... and I used to treat him like a Noumu when I was a kid. Like a servant, a pet, a slave, a thing," he sighed. "He was the only person I had control over and I loved it. I was taking out everything that hurt me on him. And that idiot still insists on taking care of me."

"Maybe you weren't that bad."

"Or maybe he would make a good parent."

"He is a good parent."

Oboro looked at him slightly surprised and smiled again. "You should tell him that. He'd be happy. He thinks he failed me because he feared All for One. That he failed me because he loathes touching, and I noticed it soon as a kid and wouldn't want hugs from him. He is an idiot."

"Tell him that yourself."

"...I will."

Oboro got up and filled another bowl with the soup.

"I have to tell Kurogiri your appetite is slowly coming back."

"...you're both so stupid." But Enji'd swear there was a lightest shadow of fondness in his voice.

When the bowl was empty Oboro went back to the bed but, again, laid close to its edge. Enji smiled internally and yawned widely, making sure the boy would see it.

"Can I join you?"

Oboro only shrugged. Of course he would.

So a moment later Enji was back in bed. He cautiously let some time pass before he started pretending he had fallen asleep. And, as expected, moments later Oboro turned to him. So Enji moved closer too.

"I know you're not asleep, idiot."

Enji sighed.

"You're so easy to read. You're lucky I like you enough to let you deal with your Touya problem through me."

"Thank you," smiled Enji as he surrounded the boy with his arm.

...damn, if someone told him a year ago he would end up in Skyrim with Shigaraki having the Singularity Quirk, in one bed, fucking cuddling he'd send them to a mental facility. Especially if someone told him he wouldn't even mind.

"Sleep well," he whispered.

A rather disgruntled murmur responded and Enji kissed the blue hair lightly.

"For fuck's sake, you're impossible," murmured Oboro but did not move an inch away.

Was that what future Shimura wanted to make possible? Or was he simply grateful to Enji for what was transpiring now? Couldn't he just have spoken with Enji like a civilized human being? Well, obviously he wasn't a person to ever speak plainly about things like this, about his need to have a parent to lean on. He would seek excuses, like 'compensation for Touya'.

Still, Oboro maybe wasn't completely wrong about Touya affecting Enji's behavior towards him. If he felt compassion for his own child, felt responsible for Touya's crimes, then he couldn't view this boy, younger than Touya, much more manipulated and hurt, as a villain. He couldn't and wouldn't. That would not be fair. He would help him as best as he could, god or not god.

The arms surrounding the blue-haired boy tightened.

Notes:

So, yeah. I hope you aren't appalled or anything but the moment I got to know Shigaraki's backstory I knew this boy deserves a fic in which he gets cuddles and love and a better future.