Work Text:
Shuuichi knew for a fact that he would never have signed up for this if he had been given more than a few minutes to think. In fact, it really wasn’t so much signing up as it was preserving his own life around four highly wanted criminals. But he’d at least thought that joining a group of mercenaries would be smooth sailing from there on out.
By god, Shuuichi was absolutely wrong.
He never thought he’d meet the person trained to be the successor of the infamous intergalactic warlord known as All For One. He never thought that person would join Dabi’s crew of traumatized idiots. He never thought he’d care so much about that person.
Tomura just seemed to defy all expectations. It was long rumored that All For One had been training a select few to take his place if anything ever happened, long before Shuuichi was born. Of course, Kurogiri had informed the crew that there had only ever been two who got so far - Tomura, and someone who had ran away. Kurogiri had refused to give any further details on the other one, no matter how much Shuuichi, Himiko, and Dabi pestered him for it.
It was currently Shuuichi’s turn flying the ship, but Kurogiri and Sako were there alongside him. Despite having read about interstellar travel since he could understand how to, Shuuichi had never really been given a chance to get off his home planet until Dabi showed up. Sako had been around for a long time - in fact, he’d raised Dabi - so he often sat with Shuuichi to make sure no errors arose. Kurogiri was there simply because he was engineered to be a living warp drive - he was far more effective than any quantum engine.
“So, uh, do you want to talk about anything?” Shuuichi asked. He wanted to get his brain off the thoughts of Tomura, and hoped that either of his companions would have a way to distract him.
“Not particularly,” Sako stated. Kurogiri remained silent as always - you’d have to specifically prompt him to talk.
Feeling defeated, Shuuichi rested his head on the wheel. There really was no way out of this.
“Hey!~” chimed Himiko. She’d somehow silently entered the room, which contradicted everything Shuuichi knew about her. “It’s my turn to fly, Shuu!”
Shuuichi promptly got off and exited the room, determined to find something, anything, to focus on that wasn’t Tomura. He made way to their main living area, only to find Twice consumed in the TV. Dabi and Sako had a habit of going back home every decade or so and picking up films from their planet, so the options for things to watch were even more extensive than usual.
“Whatchu watching?” Shuuichi asked.
“Thor: Ragnarok,” Twice answered.
“I liked that one,” Shuuichi said. “Um, any idea where our captain is?”
Twice looked up at the ceiling, and down at the floor. He looked at Shuuichi, and then the TV.
“I think he’s screwing around with weaponry in our storage space,” Twice said absent-mindly.
“Er, thanks?”
“You’re welcome! Hey, if you see Dabi, can you tell him that we need a new set of films? I’ve watched every single one three times.”
“I will forward that to him…” Shuuichi announced, lowkey terrified of the fact that Twice had spent that much time absorbing stories from a blue screen. “Anyways, bye?”
“Bye!” Twice exclaimed, as Shuuichi exited the room. The day couldn’t get much stranger than that conversation.
Shuuichi found Dabi alongside Tomura, with the two of them racing for who could disassemble one of their laser rifles and put it back together first. Neither of them heard Shuuichi’s entrance into the room, being too focused in their little competition. He had no idea whether to interrupt or to wait, so he decided to go with the latter. That was more likely to keep him from being charred to a crisp.
“Ha!” Dabi exclaimed, holding up the gun. “Fourth time in a row, six times out of eight!”
“No need to rub it my face, hot boy,” Tomura muttered.
“Also, hi Shuuichi,” Dabi commented. “You wanna play?”
“Um, no thank you,” Shuuichi answered.
“Sucks to be you. Tomura, it’s time for round nine.”
“I’m not sure I’m entertained by this anymore,” Tomura said. He got up and headed for the main corridors, with Shuuichi trailing behind him.
“Tomura,” Shuuichi said softly.
“Mm?”
“I miss spending time with you,” Shuuichi said. “I’m always on ship-flying duties, and you’re always occupied with outclassing Dabi in a game he’s been playing for twelve years.”
Tomura paused walking. Whatever he had expected for Shuuichi to say, it definitely wasn’t that.
“I don’t,” Tomura commented, before promptly speeding away from him to reunite with Dabi.
Alright, that makes zero sense, Shuuichi thought. Just minutes ago he’d shrugged Dabi off, but now he was desperate to occupy his time with the ship’s captain. What the hell was going on?
“Kurogiri?”
“Yes?” the entity of sentient mist replied.
After a half hour of debate, Shuuichi had decided to consult Kurogiri on Tomura’s actions. Kurogiri was engineered to be the man’s caretaker, and definitely knew him the best.
“Is there any reason why Tomura’s been avoiding me lately?” Immediately, some surge of regret swelled through his gut. Way to be up front, me, Shuuichi told himself.
“He’s been… avoiding you?” Kurogiri asked.
“It’s ‘cuz he and Dabi are best buddies now!” Himiko yelled from the cockpit.
“But yeah, what’s wrong with him?” Shuuichi asked.
“Tomura… has been through a lot,” Kurogiri said. “If he’s avoiding you… it’s probably because he cares.”
“Touya’s like that,” Sako mused.
“Twice ain’t,” Himiko said.
“But it’s not like he can mess up with ease,” Shuuichi analyzed. Tomura was born with a strange power that would make it so any living object that made skin contact with him would decay into nothingness. But Tomura was always so aware of that - he was careful with making contact with others. Kurogiri was the only person aboard who was immune, but not even he had figured out the reasons of his immunity.
“... Follow me,” Kurogiri began. The two of them left the cockpit, and stood in the middle of the corridor.
“What happened to him?” Shuuichi asked.
“You know that there was another potential successor to All For One, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“He and Tomura were close. But Tomura was desperate for affection, for contact, and things went awry. His friend survived due to having hyper-regeneration abilities, but ran the minute he was okay. All For One saw that as an act of Tomura asserting him, and chose him to be the one he’d train.”
“And All For One was a total bitch,” Shuuichi finished.
“Indeed,” Kurogiri said sadly. “You should approach him again, albeit more carefully. If you explain you’re not afraid of him, perhaps things would turn out better.
“Perhaps they would…”
“Hey, Tomura.”
Tomura looked up from his tablet, and glared at Shuuichi. He returned his focus to the device, before mumbling “What do you want?”
“I wanna talk.”
“Then talk.”
“Tomura…” Shuuichi began. “I need you to trust me.”
“Trust you how?” Tomura inquired. He looked back at Shuuichi and raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not afraid of you. I’ve never been afraid of you. I don’t want to lose you.”
Tomura remained silent, before bursting into laughter. “That’s a new one!” he declared.
“What’s so funny?”
“Last person who told me that nearly died,” Tomura explained. “It’s not that you’re unafraid of me - it’s that I’m terrified of you. ”
“You don’t need to be,” Shuuichi insisted. “I don’t give a shit about what happens.”
“I give a shit if it means I accidentally tear you apart.”
“You won’t. You’ve learned.”
“I like you,” Tomura abruptly announced. “Like, really like you. I’m pretty sure the only person in this universe I have stronger feelings about in a positive way happens to be Kurogiri.”
“And you’re afraid of losing me,” Shuuichi finished for him. “I think Dabi would complain the least if I died.”
“That’s a given,” Tomura laughed. “You don’t bring much to the table in terms of raw skills.”
“I mean, it’s his choice that I’m here.”
“I’m glad he made that choice instead of burning you to ashes.”
“I’m glad he made that choice too,” Shuuichi said, bracing himself. “Because otherwise I would have never met you.”
“We really owe him some kind of weird ‘thank you’ or something.”
“He doesn’t deserve it.”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right!”
“Am I?”
“Yes!”
Shuuichi sat down next to him, and laid a claw onto Tomura’s sleeved arm. The man flinched at first, before relaxing into the grip. He looked at the other and smiled.
“I trust you, Shuuichi,” he said. “I trust you.”
“Good.”
“Up for harassing Dabi after I finish this game?”
Shuuichi cracked a smile. “Oh, absolutely,” he said.
“Great.”