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Shigaraki burrows his fists into his pockets, watching as his breath is given an almost tangible form before ultimately dissipating into the chilling late autumn night.
He left the league’s hideout sometime ago to wander the vacant streets of the city. His members were celebrating their latest victory, which Tomura has just come to expect from them now. It keeps their morale up and he’d be lying if he couldn't admit, even to just himself, that he enjoys it.
He’d only recently gotten used to the weird feeling that the league gives him, and he still isn’t sure what to make of it. It’s warm and soft, a strange type of unfamiliar comfort. But at the same time, it also makes a feeling of fluster bubble up his spine and if he isn’t paying attention, the feeling will throw him off-kilter.
And that is the reason why Shigaraki Tomura is aimlessly walking through the cold night.
Tomura had prepared himself for the loud evening of joy and zeal that would surge through the league like electricity to water, but what he hadn’t been ready for, what he hadn’t expected, was for the league to look to him with all that energy. Look to him as if he had been the one to hold up the sky that hung their stars of light through the darkness they lived in. For them to toast to him like that .
Shigaraki had never seen that happen. He knows it happens, but he had always assumed that it was reserved for the heroes that this society worshipped. Never for them. Certainly not for him.
Shigaraki stops under a street lamp, watching the orange light that floods it’s small space of night. Watches as it then flickers for a moment before finally burning out.
The young man releases a sigh and frowns. Yeah, most certainly not for him
“Hey, Mophead.”
Shigaraki turns to see Dabi standing in the light of the next lamppost. Neither of the men make any attempt to move through the silence, Shigaraki half turned to the other who is leaning against the post.
The villain leader watches as the smoke of Dabi’s cigarette dances slowly up towards the city’s sky.
Dabi watches as his leader’s warm breaths leave his lips, creating clouds that seemingly live for only a short time before completely disappearing, but he knows the atoms are just mixing into that of the night’s gentle caress.
Dabi takes a breath of his own before speaking. “You left the party early.”
He watches as Shigaraki’s gaze moves back to the burnt out street light for a moment. “It appears,” weary eyes return to Dabi, “so did you.”
Dabi can feel the smallest smile tug at the staples on his cheeks. He lazily holds the cigarette up. “Mom and Dad don’t like me smoking inside.”
The fire quirk user waits for the other to call him out on his shit, but he never does. Shigaraki’s gaze slowly travels towards the horizon, where the sky meets the sea and they blur together to become inseparable until daybreak when the sun’s light will tear through the fused blend.
“Boss, want to go grab some food with me? I know this place downtown where we’ll fit right in with the crowd.”
It’s soft and almost inaudible, but Dabi hears the faintest huff of laughter slip into Shigaraki’s voice. “Where you’ll fit right in with the crowd. I’m able to blend in anywhere.” The younger man turns back to face Dabi fully this time, his expression neutral. “Sure, let’s go.”
Dabi drops the remainder of his cigarette, crushing the frail ember beneath his boot’s heel. The duo make their way deeper into the desolate city.
A soft and serene silence curls and settles between the two men as they walk side by side down the heavily cracked sidewalk.
Many of the buildings they pass are old and abandoned, cracks streaking through some windows while others are in shatters across the ground, the glass crunching beneath their feet. The buildings’ paint bleached by the sun, or chipping off entirely with rectangular splotches of what the colours used to be, preserved by posters forgotten long ago that have been beaten and torn by the elements. Walls covered in tags or smashed into pieces; broken through to steal anything of possible worth from the inside, leaving nothing left but empty shells and forgotten dreams. Mother nature slowly reclaims the rubble left behind by hero fights that never got repaired; trees and vines hugging the neglected structures, giving them the comfort never given to them by the community.
Dabi can feel that same comfort wrap around his bones, allowing him to feel something other than his own pain and numbness. His eyes flicker over to Shigaraki. This feeling is what he, and the rest of the league, had been robbed of at one point or another in their lives. When he first joined this little group, it was because he had one goal in mind and he was going to use the league to achieve that goal.
Dabi can’t pinpoint the exact moment that he started letting the league in, and they probably couldn’t either if he’s being completely honest here, but he can gather moments.
Moments when he felt.
He felt a gentle warmth of what he almost had once upon a time, but never got the chance to grasp whole heartedly before that life went up in flames. A warmth that is far too gentle to burn him, far too gentle than what society’s most wanted criminals should probably be capable of giving.
He might never voice this out loud like the others did earlier, but they were right. Shigaraki has changed so much and has grown into a true leader, and much more than that, he gave them a space to call home, a space to call family.
Dabi can’t pinpoint when, but at some point…
“The diner is just up the next street, Boss.” They’ve wandered into a less abandoned and broken area downtown. The area is still trashed and not well looked after, the people here obviously not having chosen to live in this space, but claimed it as theirs anyway.
The diner is brightly lit, sitting on the corner. Dabi leads the way through the vacant parking lot and holds the door open for Shigaraki, who gives a short nod as he passes. They settle in a booth in the corner and order their food. It isn't long before the drinks are set in front of them.
Dabi lazily sips on his smoothie as he stares at the man across from him. Shigaraki toys with the paper from the straw between his fingers, not meeting Dabi’s gaze. He shifts a few times, eyes wavering over to the ice melting in his water.
“Careful there Boss, stare at your ice like that any longer and it’ll melt under the heat.”
A habitually scoffing smile plays on Tomura’s lips. “Okay. You’re not even holding that smoothie of yours. You’re slouched over it.”
Dabi shrugs his shoulders. “I’m a simple man who wants to enjoy his cold smoothie without my quirk turning it to soup.”
“Soup smoothie.” It’s fleeting and almost invisible, but Dabi catches sight of the slightest change in Shigaraki’s smile before it returns to its smug nature. “Sounds delicious, Ashtray.”
The smile tugs at Dabi’s staples again. “I could make you one some time, Mophead. Since you’re just in love with my cooking skills.”
“Yeah, because everyone just loves walking in on someone using their quirk to make bacon, eggs, and toast.” The corner of Shigaraki’s lip twitches.
“Not my fault that some heathen disintegrated half the stove a few nights ago.” Dabi registers somewhere in his mind that the waitress drops their food off at the table.
Shigaraki crumbles the paper into a ball, bouncing it off Dabi’s nose. “And it’s not my fault some other heathen thought it would be funny to scare a man trying to figure out how to make soup for his sick caregiver.”
The smile on Dabi’s face stretches more. “Touché.” Dabi sticks a finger in his smoothie and flicks it at Tomura. He’s probably going to die for that, but the offended look on Shigaraki’s face is almost worth it. Now that his death is probably three feet closer to him, he can think of some other expressions he would rather see on Shigaraki’s face.
Dabi is abruptly ripped from that train of thought by a fry being thrown at his face. He must have given the reaction Tomura was looking for because he just snickers while twirling another fry in his fingers. “Pincushion.”
Dabi smirks as he flicks another bit of smoothie at his boss. “Twig.”
Tomura throws the fry at him again. “I’m stronger than you think, Patchwork.”
Dabi snorts as he flicks more of his smoothie. “I’d like to see that.”
Shigaraki hums another fry at him and before he can utter whatever witty reply was about to drop from his lips, the both of them are told to leave by a waitress who is done with their shit and now has to clean the mess they made.
Dabi watches as Shigaraki rolls his eyes, but gets up to leave. Dabi shrugs and follows his boss out of the diner. He folds his arms behind his head as they return to walking under the mixture of starlight and streetlight.
They eventually make it to an abandoned park that’s blocked off. Dabi watches as Shigaraki stares at the Keep Out sign for a solid ten seconds before reaching his hand out and disintegrating not the sign, but the wooden board it’s nailed to, causing the sign to fall to the ground.
Dabi smirks as the two make their way inside the park. The grass is far past overgrown, reaching up to their waists. More overgrowth covers many of the deteriorating play structures. The area is large and open, just heavily neglected. The smirk never leaves Dabi as he turns to face Shigaraki, who gives him a look of high suspicion.
And he’s right to.
In a swift movement, Dabi lightly smacks Shigaraki’s arm stating, “Tag, you’re it,” before breaking out into a full sprint across the park.
Once halfway across the park, he turns to see that the action and words had just processed in Tomura’s mind as he scrambles to break out into the chase.
After a few more seconds, he throws another look over his shoulder to see that Shigaraki is right near him, touching him with two outstretched fingers and bolting the other way after proclaiming “tag”.
Dabi can hear stifled laughter trying to escape the new runner as he tries to catch up. In turn, Dabi begins laughing as well.
The laughter of the two is released from them and stolen into the white noise of the night, to be protected in their own bubble.
When Tomura is just within arm’s reach of Dabi, he takes a sharp turn around a large play structure and Dabi nearly runs into a metal pole. To avoid collision, Dabi ends up tripping and falling into the dirt.
By the time he’s back up, Tomura is already out of sight. Rather than sneaking around the side of the structure Tomura fled to, Dabi stalks around the other way.
He grins to himself as he cautiously rounds the corner, seeing Tomura hiding behind part of the structure with his back to him, waiting for him to come around from the otherside. As Dabi gets closer, he can see Shigaraki’s shoulders shake as they try to contain the man’s smothered giggles.
Once Dabi is right behind him, he tackles Tomura to the soft dirt and grass. He relishes in the squeal the other releases as he twists under him to face him.
Dabi’s grin slips into a sly smirk as he pins Tomura’s wrists down. “Gotcha.”
Shigaraki returns the same smirk as he flips them so quickly, Dabi damn near gets whiplash.
Once Dabi’s sight stops spinning, the breath is knocked from his lungs as his gaze lands on Tomura who has himself braced above him.
The softness of the moonlight illuminates his features, features that are covered in scars inflicted from others and his own quirk, but has a beauty mark not that far off from his lips that hold a gentle smile that bleeds with the kindness of a soft warmth. That warmth travels up Tomura’s face, tinting pale cheeks with the quietest pink, and washes over crimson eyes in calming waves that tenderly caress the shore to send the sea’s love to the land.
Dabi watches as one of the man’s eyebrows quirk up and fail to try to mask the laughter that drips in his voice. “What’s wrong, Ashtray? Do I have some of that smoothie you kept throwing at me on my face or somethin?”
Dabi gives his boss a cheeky smile as he wraps his arms around Shigaraki’s neck, tangling his fingers into the hair that frames that beautiful face. “Nah, I’ve just never seen you smile before.”
Shigaraki is still failing to wipe the smile off his face as he melts into Dabi’s touch, and Dabi counts his lucky stars that he just can’t seem to be able to accomplish that. “What are you talking about? I’ve smiled around you before.”
Dabi’s smile softens to match Tomura’s as he shakes his head. “Not like this Boss, This one is rare and different. I like it.”
Tomura stills above him before letting his body drop onto Dabi’s, tucking himself into his side and under his chin. He nuzzles into Dabi as if he’s trying to hide from his gaze and Dabi swears he can feel his heart stop for a moment because of it. He gives a kiss to the top of Shigaraki’s head and combs his hair with his fingers, occasionally giving light scratches to his scalp. A gentle warmth embraces the two.
Dabi can’t pinpoint when, but at some point he fell in love with Shigaraki Tomura.