Chapter Text
One of the things Izuku was able to gain from Shigaraki's acquisition of the All For One quirk was the apparent ability to communicate with the villain through what Izuku called the Vestige World, as if a direct line connection had been established between them.
But, due to All For One's interference, the line was mostly blocked or out of service, which was just a near-constant reminder of the state the younger villain was in.
There were times when Izuku could hear hoarse murmurs that called his name, but because not knowing who was calling him, he ignored them or gave the clear answer that he wasn't going to answer until he knew who was calling him.
The only time he was able to have a decent conversation with the villain was during what Izuku could call a dream, which is why for a long time he classified that interaction just as one without giving it much importance.
Then he would discover that that dream was always real.
He had the appearance of his five-year-old self, an innocent child who had yet to experience future bullying that would grant him his status as quirkless. He was in front of what he could only describe as a mass of arms and hands that formed the cage of the sad little Shimura Tenko.
But sad would be a bad adjective to describe the look the boy returned when he saw Izuku. His eyes reflected a mixture of disbelief, surprise, mischievous mischief and hope, a combination that left the freckled boy confused and surprised as he never thought someone could feel so many contradictory emotions in his body at the same time.
But Shigaraki Tomura had always been a puzzle to Izuku.
-Midoriya- his childish voice seemed to have the same scratchy tone that the villain had when they first met - does your presence come to invade my dreams again?
Again? Had Shigaraki had dreams related to him before? Before they gave him All For One?
Izuku made the decision to continue the game as long as the villain told him something important -Yes, that's right, Shigaraki- Izuku could see how his features changed at the mention of his name -I'm here again to act as your conscience.
-This is the first time you've called me that- Did the Izuku of Shigaraki's dreams call him something else?
-Well, have I called you something else in the real world?
-No, I guess not- Shigaraki's attitude suddenly turned melancholic, as if the boy was about to burst into tears because someone called him weird in the kindergarten. This really was a strange experience for Izuku. Was this how his mind saw the villain?
Little Izuku moved closer to the mass that had Shigaraki caged, keeping one meter between them. If these hands represented All For One, Izuku didn't want to risk the older villain spotting him and trying to attack him.
-Are you alright Shigaraki? You look trapped- could be him more obvious?
-Yes, that's right, I'm trapped, and I don't feel well at all, thanks for noticing- at least he kept his condescending attitude intact.
-Why do you smile? Aren't you making fun of me?
-Mhhh? Of course not. It's just, I'm glad you're still the same as always.
-Ehh…? What do you mean?
-Well... it's clear that you still maintain your autonomy despite your current state- and Izuku diverted his eyes to observe the places where the arms were born, and the hands were intertwined until they reached where the small body of the villain was -and that it makes me happy. It takes a weight off my shoulders.
They stare into each other's eyes in silence for what seems like minutes. Izuku could see Shigaraki's eyes slowly go from coal black to the bloody ruby red he was used to see, thus making the villain look more alive and more him.
-Are you worried about me, hero?- now he sounded like the Shigaraki he knew, or at least the one he had glimpsed that day at the mall -I didn't think you'd care about someone like me.
-That's something you should ask yourself, Shigaraki, this is your dream at the end of the day and I'm just a creation of your mind, so you should ask yourself if the hero brat worried about you?
That sounded a bit harsh, but Izuku did his best to act as a figment of his interlocutor's imagination.
And from Shigaraki's reaction, Izuku could see how his response had affected him to the point of leaving him slightly downcast.
-I think…- Shigaraki's voice had fallen into an unsure whisper as he moved his gaze between the ground and Izuku as if he was thinking about his answer and the possibilities filled him with insecurity and shame, as if he feared that Izuku would react with a negative way.
-Do you think what, Shigaraki?
-I think so…- was the insecure whisper that Izuku had as an answer.
-And why do you think that -and Izuku decided to risk it too -Tenko?- he said with a warm voice as long as Shigaraki didn't see the question as an accusation to his positive answer. Izuku was genuinely curious as to why Shigaraki thought Izuku cared for him.
-Because he is my hero- that left Izuku in shock -as I am his villain.
-What…?
-He is my destined archenemy. Only I have the right to defeat him, just as only he has the right to win over me. If there were to be a scenario where another weakling hero beat me, it would deeply hurt my pride; but, for whatever reason, another villain gets to him before I do- and his eyes fixed on what you could call the roof of this place -I will destroy even more than I have planned to do.
Izuku didn't know how to feel, it never crossed his mind that the villain held him in such high esteem? consideration? It's like he had reserved Izuku just for him or he reserved himself just for Izuku.
Izuku had read some comics from the era before the quirks, and these always had a villain that stood out among the many that a single hero had, a villain that was the opposite face of his hero, the villain with whom he shared a relationship , or connection, a predilection, as if it were only the two of them in this battle that contained more participants.
-I didn't know that… -and the teenager began to feel embarrassed and self-conscious, as if he was a girl in the middle of a romantic realization -I didn't know you held Midoriya in such high regard.
-It's because our bond was made by fate- fate, Izuku had heard Shigaraki talk about it before -First, I found him in the mall when I needed to clear my head the most without even actively looking for him, as if everything had been predestined to happen that way.
-And then, when Sensei pushed me to go for the One For All, the quirk that he could never obtain on his own account, there Midoriya was involved again, with the precious quirk and the precious meeting that was unexpected but well received.
Izuku came to the conclusion that Shigaraki had some kind of obsession with the word "fate", its meaning and how it was apparently the primary basis of their relationship, and everything related to them.
And that caught the teenager off guard. The only thing remotely close that Izuku had related to the concept of "fate" was the red thread of fate, and that concept was almost always used to relate it to love and romance, so the idea of him and Shigaraki together in that way caused him mixed feelings.
-You are very delighted with this destiny thing and Midoriya, aren't you, Tenko?
-Yes- and Izuku could swear that the villain let out a sigh of someone in love, as if he was suffering from heartbreak -that's right. The possibility of me and Midoriya, united like that, gives me hope.
-Hope?
-Yes, it gives me hope, even if it's minimal, that Midoriya will come back to look for me. Maybe he just wants to beat Sensei and defeat me as collateral damage or come directly for me to leave me in the depths of the next Tartarus, but the mere idea of seeing him again and having him think of me in some way fills my chest of warm.
Why? Why was this villain thinking of Izuku in such a melancholic and desperate way, as if he was something very important in Shigaraki's life, as if he was something indispensable to the Symbol of Fear?
And why did Izuku feel like his heart was going to explode, as if he was burning with need for those red eyes that had once looked at him with such madness and anger, but now looked at him with obsessive adoration and reverence?
Izuku had never been the target of anyone's utter veneration, a target of such need to someone, so all of this had him deeply surprised. It’s made him feel so, so loved.
It’s made him feel so needed.
-Midoriya…?- when Izuku regained his spatial awareness, he saw that he now had his current appearance, that of a 16-year-old teenager, and that he was perched on top of Shigaraki, who was now the lethally attractive young adult who had the poor student hero in need of attention.
-What are you doing...?- his voice was uncertain, and a shy blush covered his face, making an abysmal contrast to all the other expressions he had given Izuku before. It looked so cute on him.
He couldn't help but silence him with a kiss, a kiss that the villain took a while to respond to, confused between disbelief and bliss, before letting out a small growl and joining his tongue with the tongue of the teenager who was clinging on him possessively.
Shigaraki was Izuku's and no one else's, he was his and not All For One's. He was his villain, his destined one, the other half of him both in soul and in quirk.
And if Izuku had someone to blame for filling his head with such ideas, it was Tomura, who showed his reciprocity to all of this with sighs of pleasure and hot, passionate kisses.
It was surely his way of making up for the fact that he still had his hands tied and could only use his mouth to show his love to his hero.
It was these actions and these kisses that made Izuku believe that all this was just a dream, a product of his low self-esteem and his desperation to be loved, a desperation so great that he had lowered himself to using his archenemy as the object of his love and fantasies.
Izuku could not imagine the real Shigaraki acting like this with him in the real world, he could not imagine a person as powerful as the villain stooping to worship someone as insignificant as Izuku, a child who was only worth something after being given this damned legacy.
-Stop lowering yourself, Izuku- Shigaraki's response surprised him, just like his name being pronounced by that deep voice that now sounded next to his ear -You're not insignificant at all, my hero can't be anything else but extraordinary, someone capable of being at my level, on a par with my great power as you say.
Shigaraki had turned his head to whisper all of this into his ear as he placed light kisses on his helix, and then turned his attention to the freckles that decorated his face.
-I always wanted to adore your adorable freckles- Izuku could feel his cheeks getting redder than they could be, especially when Shigaraki began to gently run the tip of his tongue over his skin -Tell me, my pretty hero, where else is your skin covered in these adorable freckles of yours? I want to kiss each one of them.
-Tenko, pervert...
-Yes, that's me, the great perverted villain the hero is lucky to have with his hands tied, because if it wasn't like that, he would have already started his search for more freckles to kiss and adore.
Shigaraki was going to kill him if he didn't shut up, if he didn't stop praising him and telling him how cute he found him. Izuku felt like he was going to explode.
-We can't- this was not right, they were unprotected from any threat that All For One could throw at them, in addition to having their guard down due to Shigaraki's clear insouciance and Izuku's inability to stay focused on anything other than the kisses and words of the villain -All For One could…
Shigaraki growled -Don't mention him, don't say his name. I don't want you to mention any other man while we're like this, much less sensei -it was then that Izuku felt teeth breaking the skin of his throat until a trickle of blood began to flow from the bite.
While Shigaraki licked Izuku's blood, he could hear -You're mine, hero. Sensei can't have you, just like he can't have any of you, even counting your quirk.
-Don't worry bunny, that quirk of yours won't go anywhere, I won't let him steal it from you.
It was then that, between possessive and doubtfully romantic promises, footsteps began to be heard in the distance. Steps that only indicated that their meeting was over.
-Go away.
-Tenko…
-I said go away, bunny.
-But…what about you? I don't want him to hurt you.
-And I don't want him to hurt you, hero. Go away.
-I don't want to lose you- Izuku could feel how tears were constantly falling down his cheeks to the beat of the footsteps that were now even closer. The teenager could swear that a dark silhouette surrounded by red mist was visible on the horizon behind Shigaraki.
-And you won't hero, I promise. You are the only one with the right to win over me.
And that was the last thing the teenager heard from the villain before waking up between the sweat-soaked sheets scattered on the floor next to his bed. It was just the fact that he was in his bed, and that he didn't believe that all the confessions that Shigaraki had made to him were possible, that Izuku thought that it had all been a cruel dream.
It was only when, weeks later, Shigaraki yelled at him about being his villain in the middle of battle that Izuku knew that all that was not a dream.