Work Text:
It was just supposed to be a pat on the shoulder.
Between all the war plans and the squad managing and the doctor’s health screenings, moments like these where Spinner and Tomura could just sit on the couch and work their way through a gauntlet of LOL matches together were frustratingly hard to come by.
With the power of teamwork (and a couple illegal mods but mostly teamwork), their champions had successfully defeated the opposing side despite the larger numbers and objectively better stats, and as a result they gained more XP than they had ever seen before. So of course Tomura was gonna playfully slap his buddy’s back and lavish him with the praise he damn well deserved…
It was just supposed to be an encouraging pat on the shoulder… and now Spinner’s skin was falling apart in flakes.
“Ah shit,” said Spinner nonchalantly, as if he wasn’t slowly dissolving into dust. “Looks like it’s time.”
That was the line of dialogue that caused Tomura’s thought process to switch from buffering mode to full panic what have you done mode.
“No no no no no no it’s not. It’s absolutely not your time if I have any say in it- don’t touch it!” Tomura screeched as he began to tear his room apart in a frenzy. “You’ll make it spread faster! Just don’t move, stay calm, yeah? You’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay- dammit, where the fuck did I put my emergency knife?!”
“Knife?” Spinner whipped around, his attention diverted enough to stop fiddling with the skin that was still cracking why was he making it worse on purpose?! “Boss I don’t need a knife for this. What’re you-”
Spinner paused as he was temporarily blinded by the gleam of the knife Tomura had found, giving the still-rattled villain time to respond as he also pulled out a roll of bandages from the same spot in the closet. “If we don’t amputate then at this rate it’ll reach your jugular and some major arteries and-”
“Amputate?!” Spinner yelped, starting to scooch backwards and away from the frightened mess that was trying to return to his side. Said mess was stalled somewhat by the bandages that had tangled around his legs, but those would not stop him from reaching his friend to save him from the crawling decay on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Tomura whined while struggling against the wraps, “I should’ve been more careful and now you’re taking the de-buff because I fucked up the-”
“Tomura stop!” He froze at his friend’s command but was visibly shaking, like he was using all his panicked energy to keep himself from rushing over anyway. Sensing this, Spinner quickly continued, “Tomura talk to me, what do you think is happening right now?”
“I touched you,” Tomura wheezed, his breathing uneven and cycling far too fast as his volume picked up, “I touched you and I must’ve forgotten to lift a finger and you’re falling to pieces right in front of me and you won’t let me help!”
“I’m sheading my skin!” Spinner shouted, then lowered his voice to a softer and calmer tone. “I’m just sheading my skin. This happens every two months or so, it’s normal for me. I’m not in pain, I’m not hurt, you didn’t hurt me. Boss breathe, please please breathe, you’re gonna hurt yourself if you don’t breathe.”
Spinner waited for Tomura to get his breathing under control to slow it down, at long last hearing it even out for good before telling him, “I trust you not to hurt me, you know that?”
Tomura took one more long breath, then replied, “Yeah, you do trust me.” And I’d rather die than do anything to lose it.
“Hell, if anything I’m sorry,” Spinner sighed, crisis and potential shoulder loss now averted, “Now I’m gonna have to spend the next hour or so tearing this dead skin off of me instead of strategizing for the next match.”
Tomura made his way closer, getting a better look at the peeling skin and the scaled pattern it retained. “Would the work go by faster if I helped? Consider it some amends for freaking you out like that.”
“You sure? I mean it is kinda gross I guess.”
It was little one-off lines like this that made Tomura wanted to hunt down and kill every moron who ever made Spinner feel uncomfortable in his own skin.
“Spinner please. We’ve slaughtered countless people and left bloody carnage behind. I can’t for the life of me remember the last time either of us took a bath. We’re currently sitting in a room piled high in expired food and candy wrappers and who knows how many spilled cans of soda. We are probably the grossest people this side of Japan. A little dead skin isn’t gonna freak me out.”
Spinner blushed and smiled, before turning his head to the side and mumbling, “Even if I eat it?”
Oh what would I do without you, you beloved disgusting boy of mine, Tomura thought as he sighed and replied, “Even if you eat it.”