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It was bright. That was the first thing All For One realised as he awoke. He blinked away the daze and grogginess of his slumber to find the sky above devoid of any blue. No light hues of day nor the deepness of night. In its place was a warm white, not the grey of overcast or winter’s snow. A white he’d never seen in his unnaturally long life. It was pleasant on the eyes.
“About time you woke up.”
A smile found his lips, curling upwards in a manner that showed his teeth. “It’s been awhile, Yoichi.”
He turned his head, feeling the grass below brush his cheek. Flower petals decorated the edge of his vision as he found Yoichi sitting next to him. His silhouette seemed to glow in the light, framing him like an angel. An image befitting him in All For One’s eyes. The view roused his memory, stirring up a scattered but legible collection of events.
Their final confrontation
His loss
Yoichi holding him close as he bled out.
Staring into those calm green eyes.
His death.
Yoichi turned away, breaking him from his flood of memories. The sky seemed to expand onwards into infinity behind him, unable to see the horizon blurred along the edge of the field. Yoichi hummed as All For One sat up, “I wonder whose fault that is.”
All For One groaned as he felt the stiffness in his body dispel from the movement, leaning forward with a knee pulled up. “Yours, obviously.”
Yoichi scoffed, “Even in death, you’re still a pain in my ass.”
His grin faded into a forlorn smile, “So it wasn’t just a nightmare.”
Yoichi’s harshness softened as his brows knit together. He glanced towards All For One from the corner of his eye, “Do you often have nightmares of dying?”
“I don’t remember stealing a quirk that affects the afterlife…” He mused, craning his head as he inspected their surroundings closer. Not that there was much to inspect, given the only thing they could see was a vast plain of green with specs of flowers to break it up and give it life (irony aside).
Yoichi narrowed his eyes at his brother’s blatant avoidance. “You’re dodging the question.”
All For One looked back to him, tone shifting from nonchalance to a trivial sternness. “I’m dead, little one. It takes time to process that kind of thing.”
Yoichi cocked his head to the side, annoyance notable on his features. “For any regular human I’d be inclined to agree, but this is you we’re talking about.”
“Is a Demon King not granted any courtesy in death?”
“What was it that you told Nana back in Tenko’s mindscape?” Yoichi brought a single finger to his chin in a mock thinking pose. His attention towards the sky above as if it had the rhetorical answer he was looking for. "Oh yeah…'am I really capable of feeling guilt for my sins like some utterly ordinary person?' "
All For One chuckled, placing his palms behind himself to lean back. “I see no reason I shouldn't be allowed to process such a life changing event."
With a roll of his eyes and a sigh Yoichi let himself fall back against the grass. The earth below was softer than a regular field of grass. He let one arm rest against his stomach while the other idly played with the stem of a flower. He had no idea what it was or if it was one that could be found in the realm of the living. It was purple, and had thin velvety petals that circled it’s pistil.
“I don’t know why I stayed behind. You’re just going to be the same as ever.” He grumbled, not looking up from the flower.
All For One’s expression creased with confusion, “Stayed behind?”
“The other users of One For All.” He explained, moving his hand from the stem to a petal, rubbing its soft texture between his fingers. “They passed on and I stayed behind to wait for you. I had hoped…” He trailed off, snapping the petal from it’s bed.
A heavy silence fell between them. A contrast to All For One’s mind. He’d never been the most sentimental or truthful man in life, but there was no denying how much he loved his brother. In life he had an image to uphold. A pride to keep. In death, there was no reason to hold onto such things, especially not at the expense of his one true goal. Death may as well be the final push to break his stubborn streak.
His voice was devoid of his usual cheekiness. “You had hoped we’d finally be together again?”
Neither moved in response to the question and he was content to let Yoichi answer at his own pace. There was no rush after all, at least, not that he was aware of. Who knows if the sky would open up and God would decide to send him to hell before Yoichi answered.
“Even after all this time and after all you’ve done…” He looked over at the sound of Yoichi’s voice to find him sitting up again. The grass crunched with the movement, eyes cast downwards as he switched to whispering. A vain attempt to hide what he was spilling. “...I still love you.”
He closed his eyes. The small frown of his spread into a grin as he began to laugh, breathy and tainted by a shade of bitterness. With a shake of his head he continued, “I can’t even pretend it’s strictly familiar anymore.”
All For One perked up at the realisation. He always wondered if his incestuous feelings were reciprocated, but it felt like too high of a risk to take. They had already been at odds with each other, confessing seemed like the final nail in the coffin. He reached over, sliding a finder underneath Yoichi’s chin and guiding his attention towards him.
“I knew I should've tried seducing you.”
Yoichi tsked as he whacked All For One’s hand away, although it lacked animosity. “It wouldn’t have worked either way, not with your demon king obsession.”
“I’ll…admit it got warped over time.”
Yoichi paused, processing the uncharacteristically honest admission. The way his face contoured, one might have mistaken him for being angry. It wasn’t until he spoke with a hesitation that All For One saw the cracks underneath. “What do you mean?”
All For One sobered his excitement, gazing out into the field with a far off look in his eye. “When we were kids, you were so frail. I thought the wrong move would break you.”
“So you decided to create a criminal empire.”
The interruption from Yoichi drew a laugh from him, unbothered by his brother’s mordant comment. In an impulse of playfulness he reached over, closing the gap between them as he wrapped his arms around Yoichi. Not to hug him, but to lift him up and pull him into his lap despite the man’s vocal protests and powerless elbowing.
“Listen, little one, I know I like to hear myself talk but if you'd like to clear the air then you'll have to let me explain myself." He chastised, peering down at the pouting Yoichi in his lap. The sight was tempting with his lips so kissable in his arms. Instead, he took his silence (and glare) as a sign to continue, “When we read those comics I saw how the hero struggled; The amount of pain he had to endure for such unrealistically kind and selfless people–”
"–Not so unrealistic now, are they?"
“Heh,” All For One closed his eyes, a tight smile pulling his lips. He hung his head in mock shame. It felt weird for someone without an ounce of morality to reflect on his actions. “I suppose that was my undoing.” He didn’t let it fester for long, opening his eyes halfway to peer down affectionately at Yoichi, almost with the sense that this was still an elaborate dream. As if he would wake and be Yoichi-less once more. He leaned down, placing a chaste kiss against his forehead. “Now quit interrupting. It’s like you’re a kid again…”
“I haven’t been in your lap since I was a kid.” He mused, fiddling with All For One’s collar.
“I suppose you haven’t…” His eyes flickered over his body, “Did you miss it?”
Yoichi wiggled closer, burying his face into All For One’s chest while his hand slid along the smooth fabric of his dress shirt. He didn’t understand the logic behind the warmth radiating from their bodies in the afterlife, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “...I did.”
“Oh my,” He chuckled, “No fight? No denial?”
A shrug was his response, “We’re both finally dead, might as well be transparent.”
All For One hummed, lingering on his words. It appeared, for once, they had a similar outlook. “It’s far more peaceful then I expected.”
“Are you going to finish your story?” He asked, impatience coating his words.
“Right, where was I?” All For One hummed, adjusting his position and hold for comfort. “The hero who struggled. I knew how much you admired him, but I was… Afraid. Afraid that if you went through similar struggles it would break you."
"I believe we both inherited the Shigaraki stubbornness." He countered, ignoring the strange sensations his brother’s open honesty stirred inside of him.
"It takes more than stubbornness to win…” He trailed off as his usual confidence faltered, memories of the fight floating back into his mind. “Or that was what I had believed."
Yoichi had switched his fiddling from All For One’s collar to a button in his view. The hard object making a light tink noise against his nails. “...How did we get from point A to point B?”
"...I saw the villain. The villain who wanted nothing. He had power, he could get anyone to do anything. He didn’t have to worry about losing anything.”
Yoichi tapped the button once more as something of his own clicked into place in his head. It was uncomfortable and he didn’t care for how grey it tinted their black and white perspectives. Frankly, it annoyed him as he sat up and adjusted himself to view his brother head on. He took All For One’s face into his hands, palms against his cheeks. “You could have just talked to me.”
He continued to smile as he peered into Yoichi’s anger, resting one of his own hands overtop of his. He guarded his vulnerability under the guise of amusement. “You were too young to fully comprehend my woes, especially with how idealistic you are. You knew nothing of how uncaring and harsh reality could be.”
Yoichi’s pupils darted along his face, looking for something to combat his words. He admitted defeat when he found nothing, his shoulders slumping as he mumbled. “I suppose you’re right, we wouldn’t have seen eye to eye regardless.”
All For One let out a heavy sigh, one weighted with more emotion than he’d cared to dissect at the moment. How he’d longed to hear Yoichi agree with him on something and it wasn’t by any manipulation of his own doing. He wasn’t ready to admit he’d taken the wrong path yet, but it was a start (not that he was willing to admit that yet either). Instead, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against Yoichi’s and with the quietest confession of his own, spoke. “God, how I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Yoichi returned with his own weighted whisper.
“It’s nice…” His smile could be heard in his words, “not fighting with you.”
“I wish we could’ve done it sooner.” Yoichi said with a hidden bite.
“Well…” He returned to sitting straight, scanning the blurred horizon around them. “I don’t see any gods or goddesses attempting to shoo us from here.” He looked back down to Yoichi, seeing a spark of excitement in his eyes as he realised where All For One was going with this. The pair was unable to hide their growing joy, “Would you like to make up for lost time?”
Yoichi’s hands slid down to All For One’s shoulders before wrapping his arms around his neck. All For One let his own travel down to Yoichi’s hips, tightening his grip as if to never let him go. The gap between them turned nonexistent as their lips connected. To All For One, his brother was as soft as he’d imagined. As deserving of Hell as he was, he had managed to steal a piece of heaven in death.
To Yoichi, his brother was every bit as overwhelming as he’d expected and he held no complaints about the matter. His attention was his alone now as they ravished each other’s lips. More than a century’s worth of pent up emotion came pouring out in the embrace. Hot breath against the other’s face when they parted, only a hair’s width from each other as Yoichi answered.
“Absolutely.”