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Tomura was going soft. A year ago he wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a color other than black and sitting in a room with the other members of the League of Villains with Christmas music playing softly off Ujiko's phone. There was no other explanation for the fact that he was wearing an argyle sweater and staring at a pile of brightly wrapped presents from behind Father. He was going soft and he fully blamed Toga for it.
She'd been pestering him for months, ever since the Overhaul fiasco, to let the League do a Secret Santa. Magne was dead and Kurogiri was gone, she'd reasoned, they needed something to cheer them up. It would make them closer, she'd begged, a better team with better connections. Tomura had denied her and denied her until she stabbed him in the arm and told him she'd bleed him out if she wasn't allowed to get gifts for her friends. Tomura had decayed the knife and banned her from missions for a few weeks but he had relented.
Toga wrote everyone's names down on slips of paper at the beginning of December and put them in one of Mr. Compress's hats and made everyone pick their Secret Santa. Tomura suspected she had also threatened the others with bodily harm because no one put up a fight about it. So he'd drawn a name, read the paper, and decayed it so he wouldn't be forced to switch with anyone.
And now it was December 25th and the League of Villains was having a Christmas party. Toga and Mr. Compress were pretty into it and had decorated their base accordingly. They'd, somehow, gotten Twice to drag a big Christmas tree back without being caught. Spinner had been on popcorn stringing duty for a week. Even Giran had been roped into this nonsense and provided them with as many ornaments as they could wish for. Tomura didn't even understand how Christmas ornaments were traded or valued on the black market but honestly, he wasn't going to ask. Dabi had pointedly refused to help, saying his family had been very traditional and didn't celebrate western holidays like Christmas, but once everything had been set up Toga at least sweet-talked him into lighting all the candles.
Toga had been fretting for quite a while before the name draw because of the hit to their ranks there were only seven core members of the League and that was an odd number and she wouldn't see anyone left out, even though Tomura had repeatedly volunteered, but her worries stopped when they recruited Ujiko at the end of November. Ujiko was new to the group so Tomura had been glad he hadn't gotten them. He was going to have a hard enough time getting a present as it was for someone he had known longer.
But now, everyone was here, gifts and all, wrapped up in sweaters and slightly drunk and ready to start their Secret Santa.
"I think we should start off with a toast!" Mr. Compress declared raising his champagne flute. Everyone was just tipsy enough to follow suit, even Tomura who, begrudgingly raised his whiskey. "To all our fallen comrades! To Magne! To Kurogiri! To Tomura's Sensei! May they rest in peace or be liberated soon!"
"Here, here." Tomura found himself saying. He squinted down at his tumbler, how much of this had he had to drink already? God, this party was going to kill him.
"Who wants to go first?" Toga asked, clapping her hands excitedly. "Oh wait, I do!' she said immediately after and bounded up out of her seat and over to the pile of gifts. She pulled a silver bag with purple tissue paper out of the pile. She grinned wickedly at everyone in turn before skipping over to Twice and dropping it in his lap, kissing him on the cheek as she returned to her seat.
"Merry Christmas, Jin-kun! I hope you like it!" She squealed, kicking her feet excitedly.
Twice, who had his hood off for once, blushed a very vibrant pink and ducked his head as he picked through the tissue paper. He pulled out a balaclava that was fashioned to look like a sweatshirt hood that could go with any of his street clothes and wouldn't look so out of place when he needed to cover up.
"Wow, Toga, this is amazing! THANKS, I HATE IT." He said, but he put it on quickly to give it a test run, proving which of his statements was true.
"I thought it might make it easier for you to go out." She said, head on her hands.
"I really appreciate it, it's great." He affirmed from behind his new mask.
"Goodie!" she smiled. "Now, as per Secret Santa rules, it's your turn to give your gift!"
Twice dragged himself out of his chair and plucked a rectangle of snowy, blue paper out of the pile and tossed it at Spinner who caught it.
"What, no kiss?" Spinner asked, chuckling. Twice flipped him off, laughing as well. Spinner carefully ripped the paper off his gift, grinning as he pulled Red Dead Redemption II out of the wrapping. "Really?" he asked, excitedly looking up at Twice.
"Well, you haven't shut up about it since it came out." Twice answered. Spinner looked over the package with glee.
"Boss, do you have this yet? There's a multiplayer component; we can play in co-op." He asked looking over at Tomura. They hadn't been able to play recently but as the League's resident gamers they had played together before. Tomura and Spinner didn't always get along but they were a great team.
"I don't yet, but when I get it we can play." Tomura nodded, his voice light as he sipped his whiskey.
"It looks amazing," Spinner said, ripping open the protective plastic. "All the reviews for it are insane and I hear the world is..."
"Spinner, it's your turnnnnnn." Toga drawled, interrupting his rant.
"Right, sorry. Thanks, Twice, I can't wait to play it." Twice gave him the thumbs up. Spinner grabbed a small red bag and set it down on the end table in front of Mr. Compress. "Merry Christmas, Compress." He said, putting a hand on the older man's shoulder.
Mr. Compress took the bag in his lap and opened it with his usual amount of drama. Inside was a coin magic set and a DVD of new techniques from some American magician.
"I know sleight of hand is your favorite trick and I guess this guy is pretty good so I thought you might like it." Spinner said, shrugging.
"Spinner, it's absolutely wonderful and very thoughtful of you. I may be an old dog but I can still learn new tricks." Compress said happily standing up and sweeping off his hat in a deep bow to Spinner.
Tomura had to admit this wasn't so bad. It was sort of nice to see everyone not angry for once. He was warm and his drink made his mind heady. This was alright. Maybe Toga hadn't had such a bad idea after all. He watched Mr. Compress give Giran a Satsleeve for his phone. The satellite attachment would make his phone harder to trace and more secure for his business deals. Giran seemed pleasantly surprised by such a considerate gift, cracking one of his terrible old man jokes, which made everyone laugh at him and not at his joke, but he took it in stride. Giran himself presented Toga with a long box that everyone knew was going to be a knife. But her eyes rolled back in her head with joy as she pulled it out anyway.
"That's not just an ordinary knife, Himiko-chan," Giran said expansively. Since Giran had brought her into the fold he had always looked after her fondly. "And you can thank your fearless leader for it, it wouldn't be so special without him." He gestured at Tomura.
"Ohhhh, what does it do?" Toga asked, her eyes running over the shiny blade in fascination.
"That, my dear, is a quirk-canceling blade," Giran said proudly. Tomura sat up straighter.
"A what?" he asked, trying to clear his boozy head.
"A quirk-canceling blade, Shigaraki. Ever since you brought me Overhaul's life's work I've had some people fiddling around with it. Now, Himiko-chan, it isn't the permanent cancelation it's only temporary so you do still need to be careful, but I think you can make use of it."
Toga screamed happily, clutching her new baby to her like it was her first born. Tomura waved Giran over to him while Toga tried to convince the others to let her try it out.
"What else have you been doing with it?" He asked in a low voice.
"Oh, Shigaraki, I'm sure you will be pleased. That isn't the only weapon we have cooked up. I partially came tonight to be sure I could set up a demonstration with you. I'm excited for you to see our work." Giran said with a smirk.
"You never let me down, Giran," Tomura said grinning, somewhat manically, behind Father. "We'll arrange a demo before you leave."
"OW. Not so hard, Toga!" Twice was yelling. Toga had convinced him to let her give him "just a little slice" she had said. Dabi wordlessly handed Twice a napkin to press to his cut.
"Try it! Make a copy of something!" Toga said bouncing around him.
"Ok, I'll try and make a Dabi," he said. He screwed up his eyes under his mask in concentration. But nothing happened.
"IT WORKS." Toga cried, kissing the blade.
"So, um, how long until I get my quirk back?" Twice asked, looking a bit alarmed.
"It comes back in about twelve hours," Giran said, waving his hand. Twice nodded, tightening the pull strings of his hood.
"Well, I've already given my present so someone else needs to go." Toga said, slipping the knife into its sheath.
"I'll go," Dabi said, unexpectedly. He picked up a heavy looking parcel from the dwindling pile and brought it to Ujiko. Ujiko blinked at him. The newcomer had been fairly quiet the whole evening. Not really sure where they fit in with the group yet. "I owe you for getting me out of that mess with the Number One, so I hope you like it." Ujiko's lip twitched.
"Anytime." They said and opened their package and received a bottle of Tanqueray No. Ten.
"I know you like that fruity shit and I thought things can't be easy for you as the new person so you might want a drink," Dabi said. "And really, I owe you."
"Don't worry about it, we're teammates right?" Ujiko said with a smile. "I'm here to help. Thanks though, I do think I'll go through it pretty quick." Dabi nodded.
"If you want a drinking partner you know where to find me."
All eyes were on Ujiko as they removed themselves from their seat tucked in at the back of the group and went to retrieve their present. Looking somewhat terrified, they handed Tomura a neatly wrapped box with shaking fingers.
"Merry Christmas, boss." They said, quickly running back to their seat. Tomura sighed. He knew he wasn't a people person but he didn't know Ujiko was about to crap their pants in his presence. He'd have to work on that. With eight careful fingers, he made quick work of the paper. Inside was a device he had no idea what the function of was called a Re-Timer. He took Father off to more closely examine the package.
"You...you have trouble sleeping, right?" Ujiko said hesitantly from the back of the room. It was no secret that Tomura had a terrible sleeping schedule. He was always up either planning or losing himself in a game and it wasn't very easy to get a restful night's sleep with the ever-present threat of decaying his bed lingering over him.
"Uh, yeah," Tomura said looking up at them.
"They're light therapy glasses," Ujiko explained. "They help realign your circadian rhythm and help your brain shut down so you can fall asleep easier. I, um, I wanted to make sure you were taking care of yourself." They said bashfully.
Tomura was somewhat speechless. No one had ever really offered a solution to this problem before. Not like he'd tried. He just figured he'd always be perpetually tired. For Ujiko, the newest member of the team, to notice this about him and try to help him with it was surprising to Tomura. It may have even touched him a bit. Damn, he was going soft. What would Sensei think of him now? Tomura tried to offer his most non-threatening smile to Ujiko.
"I, um, well I really appreciate it." He said, "Well, I, uh...thank you." Wow, when was the last time he had used that phrase? The room seemed stunned.
"Tomura-kun, you do care!" Toga wailed, almost bursting into tears. "I knew you liked us, see Ujiko-san, he's not that scary." Tomura balled up his wrapping paper and threw it at her but it turned to dust before it even reached her.
And that left Tomura to give his gift to the only remaining person in the room without one. Dabi. Tomura and Dabi did not get along. They respected the hell out of one another but they just did not like each other. Dabi was forever getting under Tomura's skin and Tomura was forever riding Dabi about his initiative. After Ujiko, Dabi was the next person Tomura really hadn't wanted to get but here he was, dropping a large heavy package in his lap.
"You know everyone else's was wrapped so nicely, I see how much I mean to you." Dabi baited, picking at Tomura's sloppy wrapping job.
"You're lucky I got you anything, do you know how hard it is to wrap a present with four fingers?" Tomura snapped back, throwing himself into his chair. "Just open it and be grateful." Dabi rolled his eyes and almost sarcastically opened his gift. He pulled out a long, black, wool coat.
"You know Creep, I already have a coat," Dabi said plucking at the aforementioned garment.
"Your coat is shit," Tomura said. "You look like a homeless person. Also, I'm not a moron, I've been on missions with you and you're cold all the time. I know you try to play off that you run hot with your fire but you clearly don't, I see you out there shivering. It's December, I'm not going to let you freeze to death." He crossed his arms and stared Dabi down. Dabi looked taken aback. Did he really think that no one was going to notice his body temperature didn't match his quirk? Dabi stared back for a minute before clicking his tongue and looking back down at the coat.
"I guess it is an okay coat." he sighed.
"It's a Christmas miracle!" Mr. Compress cried after a moment of silence. "They agreed on something!" This broke the tension and everyone started laughing. He even got a chuckle out of Tomura and Dabi.
The rest of the night passed in a haze of more alcohol and everyone messing around with their gifts until they had to threaten Toga they would take her knife away if she kept trying to take people's quirks. Tomura sat back in his chair, much drunker than he had originally anticipated being, a small contented smile on his uncovered face. He listened to everyone bicker, and laugh, and tease each other until everyone either fell asleep on the chairs and couches or made their way to their rooms to pass out.
Eventually, Giran left and Tomura was the only person left conscious, still listening to Ujiko's phone play tired Christmas songs. He was in enough of a stupor to admit to himself that this had been a good idea. None of them had laughed so much since before Sensei had been captured. The foreign feeling of comfort settled on him as he looked around that the sleeping bodies of those who remained with him and he felt his cold heart warm up just a tiny bit.
Maybe it wasn't so bad to be a little bit soft.