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Tomura’s monitor glows violet, then blue, then red, before the screen turns black, the glaring GAME OVER staring at him as the rest of the image fades, a big fuck you blinking right in his face because he was so close it makes him want to scream.
A game with no saves, no extra lives, and no fucking way to beat the goddamn boss without a cheat code and a dream, and like hell he’s about to get banned when he waited six months for this.
He goes to slam his fists on his keyboard because clearly this is it’s fault, but then he remembers with a jolt how stupid that would be for more reasons than one.
He looks back to see Toga in his bed for the fifth time this week, passed the fuck out in just one of his hoodies and a pair of (thankfully) her own underwear because she doesn’t care who sees her. They’re family, whatever that means.
She holds onto his Eraserhead body pillow with one leg hooked over it, a gift Dabi got him as a joke that Tomura keeps because it’s actually good for his back, and like this Tomura can see too much of her for what she’s actually probably okay with.
He gets up and grabs the blanket off the foot of the bed, a ratted old piece of shit he’s had since Sensei first took him in, and he pulls it over her up to her waist, watching as she scrunches her nose in her sleep in the dull monitor light.
There’s nothing they can do right now.
The heroes are out in droves, and even though it would be good press to go after them, it’s not the right time. Sensei’s orders. A part of Tomura knows he should be restless right now, chomping at the bit to get his hands dirty, but the game he’s been dying to play just came out, Toga is clearly fucking exhausted from whatever the hell she’s been up to lately, and Dabi has his own shit going on, not like Tomura cares.
His bedroom door bursts open, and Spinner charges in with wide eyes. “Bos–.”
Tomura puts a hand up before bringing his finger to his lips to quiet him, and Spinner immediately sees Toga sound asleep exactly how Tomura found her. He winces an apology before pointing at the screen and waving his hands, and Tomura tilts his head, confused, as Spinner tries to soundlessly gesture what he came in here to tell him.
Tomura shakes his head that he doesn’t understand, and Spinner makes a gesture that looks a whole lot worse than what he probably means for it to. Tomura’s eyebrows knit, and he waves for him to stop, and Spinner covers his face with his hands before pointing at the screen again.
Tomura points to it too as a guess, and Spinner nods before making the same gesture again, which Tomura finally registers as gut stabbing, and it clicks.
“Ohhhh,” he mouths, and Spinner gives him an exaggerated nod before he points at Toga with a question on his face. Tomura shakes his head as a no even though he doesn’t know exactly what he’s asking, and Spinner frowns slightly before gesturing that he’s going to leave.
Tomura nods, and Spinner slips back out, taking extra care to not let the door click behind him.
He looks back down at Toga and her soft pout and the tangle of blonde hair bunched up around the hood of his jacket. Why is she here?
Why does she keep sleeping here?
Why has Tomura let her?
In his defense, he doesn’t let Toga do anything. Nobody does. He doesn’t tell her what to do unless it’s for the League, and he doesn’t tell her no unless it’s something really fucking insane. Maybe one day he won’t just to see what happens. Could be fun.
She brings her fist to her mouth, curling it in his hoodie like a paw. It’s never that comfortable when he wears it, and god, he hasn’t washed it in ages. It probably smells like shit, and Toga’s got her face on it. She’s going to think he’s gross.
Not that he cares, of course.
He raises the shirt he’s wearing right now to his nose and gives it a quick sniff. It’s not that bad. The hoodie probably isn’t either if Toga isn’t gagging herself awake.
Maybe he should do his laundry in the morning. Or maybe he should find someone else to do it for him. That would probably be the better move here.
She shifts again in her sleep and draws the pillow closer into a hug, Eraserhead’s face getting smushed in the process, and an amused smile tugs on his mouth in a way the makes his bottom lip sting. Chapped again. Damn it.
He licks the small drop of blood off of his lip, and then it occurs to him that he’s just standing here watching Toga sleep, and yeah, he’s cool with mass murder, but he draws the line at being a creep.
He turns around and walks back to his computer where his latest failure waits for him, and he takes a breath. If Spinner actually figured something out, maybe he can finally beat this son of a bitch before people start speed running it. He would actually lose his shit if he doesn’t.
But getting back to the boss means redoing the whole goddamn game while not dying, picking the right weapons, and saving the right potions, which he pretty much has down to a science, but this time when he loots the Simple Steel Dagger off of the first skeleton the game prompts him to check, he keeps it instead of trashing it and says a small prayer for his sanity.
One more run.
It takes him another three hours to get to where he last died, and he pauses the game before rubbing his head as it twinges annoyingly. This isn’t going to work. It’s not going to work, and he’s going to have to start all over again, and he hates this stupid fucking game and it’s stupid fucking mechanics.
Fuck it.
He hits start and charges in.
It’s a bitch of a fight between the boss’s stupid shield, his magic resistances, and the add-waves coming in from every direction, and whoever the fuck thought the fight needed lava is a bigger villain than he is, but he remembers what Spinner told him and waits.
He gets the boss down to twenty percent which is where he always dies because of the big shield and the rage, but this time he switches weapons from his Godking’s Striker to the two damage Simple Steel Dagger, and he lashes out with it, pressing the attack key over and over again as his own health meter rapidly depletes, and it looks stupid as hell, but with a great roar that he assumes can be heard outside of his headset, the boss falls to his knees, holding his guts in place.
Two large gargoyles screech, and Tomura watches as they swoop down and finish the job, and his eyes widen as a voluptuous woman in a tattered gray gown approaches, a pair of large skeletal wings jutting from her back.
“Champion,” she says, her voice echoing with whispers. “You have given me the Doomsayer, and for that I will aid you on your quest. Take one of these potions and this key, and be on your way. Remember, Death sees all.”
Tomura’s heart pounds as a massive chest materializes in front of him along with three floating potions, the third labeled Elixir of Life that he grabs immediately without a thought for the invisibility potion or the detect undead shit. No, if he’s only got one life, he’s taking that redo. Fuck having to do all of this again.
And then he almost laughs pathetically when he remembers this was only the first boss, and there’s supposed to be two more before the final, and it took him all week to get to this point.
Why does he keep torturing himself?
He takes his headset off and sets it down on the desk, the buzz of his room fan filling his ears, and he stretches his arms above his head, making his chair creak beneath him.
“Did you win, Tomura,” Toga mumbles, her voice soft from sleep, and Tomura’s heart beats a little faster because he didn’t expect to hear her.
“Yeah, I got it,” he says. “Game’s not over though.”
“Oh, okay.”
He spins his chair around and sees her still curled up with the pillow, but now awake and blinking back at him with an expression he isn’t used to. It makes him shift in his seat, but he doesn’t ask about it. If Toga had something to say, she would say it.
“So you’re gonna play some more?”
He looks back at his screen and considers it. He could. He’s only a third of the way in, but now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off, that exhaustion he always ignores for launch weeks creeps up on him like an old friend. Maybe he could come back to it tomorrow.
“Probably not,” he says, and she nods.
“Can we go to sleep now?”
His eyes widen briefly at the word we, but Toga has been sleeping in here all week, so he’s not sure why that being acknowledged would surprise him. Maybe he thought she didn’t know she was doing it, but then again, nothing Toga ever does is unintentional.
“I guess,” he concedes and pushes himself up, and Toga barely slides out of the way to give him room on the bed. He considers telling her to leave, but then decides against it, not interested in hurting her feelings when she’s not bothering him anyway.
He does undress down to his boxers, though, not willing to be hot and sweaty all night, and if she doesn’t like it, she can go somewhere else.
But instead of disgust, she smiles at him softly and watches as he climbs in next to her before closing her eyes, looking as peaceful as an angel, and he doesn’t have the mind to stop himself before he pets her with one finger raised.
She doesn’t flinch.
“Goodnight, Tomura,” she mutters as he settles in next to her, the Eraserhead body pillow the only thing separating them, but it’s soon discarded, and he finds himself being replaced as its purpose.
It’s a strange feeling, but it’s Toga, so he doesn’t mind it so much. The smooth, bare thigh over his is a little disarming, as is the tickle of blonde hair beneath his nose, and Tomura blinks up at the ceiling as Toga falls into a deep sleep on his chest.
They’ve been doing this for a week.
How is he just now noticing?
He lets an arm drop over her back, keeping his hand curled into a careful fist, and he goes to sleep to the combined sound of her breathing and his own heart pounding up into his throat.
This is weird right?
He sneaks a look at her with an inquisitive frown, and all he sees is Toga looking peaceful and happy.
So maybe it’s not.
His door opens again, and his eyes widen in horror as Spinner walks in towards the computer, stops, and then looks at the bed with a look of shock at the two of them together, and that’s all the confirmation Tomura needs that yes, this is probably weird.
He shakes his head and makes a face meaning for Spinner to leave, and he watches as he tiptoes backwards out of the room like nothing happened.
If he tells anyone about this, he’ll kill him.
The door shuts quietly, and Toga shifts on his chest, prompting him to close his eyes like he’s been asleep this whole time, and he doesn’t open them as she pushes herself up, even if a part of him says he should make sure she doesn’t leave.
She doesn’t though.
Instead he feels her press her lips carefully to his cheek, and he wonders for a very brief moment if she’s been borrowing his blood this whole time, but then she settles back down, content that her task was completed.
It’s the first time she—or anyone, really—has ever done that.
Right?
Probably.
How focused was he?