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Shigaraki Tomura was upset. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, it was hard to find a time the teen wasn't upset about one thing or another. Whether it be something mundane or something involving the very core of how modern hero society works, he was always upset about something. But this time was different, for reasons Kurogiri could not place, he wasn't open about it, more prone to sulking in oddly sad silence rather than loudly talking about how horrible whatever it was to them. So the most logical thing to do would be to tell Sensei. Oddities in Shigaraki Tomuras behavior should be reported to Sensei as soon as they are noticed so that they can be sorted out by Sensei.
The problem was Sensei was going to be much more busy than usual, he was going to be unable to fully have the conversation where Kurogiri could lay out what the problem was so that he could than take care of it, most likely for over a week. And what feelings of humanity Kurogiri did have left very felt very vocally bad about leaving Shigaraki Tomura to his own very sad, sulking, and in need of emotional support devices for that long.
So that's how they ended up here, standing in front of Shigaraki Tomuras door, completely unsure of what the hell they're doing.
They knocked on the door before they could back out of this, knocking wasn't something they usually did, just popping into the room fully or opening a small portal to talk through if they needed to speak to Shigaraki Tomura worked fine enough in most situations. Though in this situation, since they were attempting to discover the route of Shigaraki Tomura's problem and assist him with coping with whatever it is, being especially polite here would most likely benefit their cause. A very muffled, groggy sounding, "What is it?" Came from the other side of the door. Kurogiri took a deep breath "I would like to talk to you about something Tomura, may I come in?" A short silence followed, in which Kurogiri held their breath hoping not to be turned away, "Go ahead, do what you want." Tomura replied, his voice sounding slightly less muffled than before.
Kurogiri let out the breath they had been holding in and opened the door. Tomuras room was just as dark as it usually is, the only real light coming from the computer monitor in the corner. Their eyes quickly scanned the room before landing on Tomura, he was wrapped all around in a blanket, and sat in an somewhat upright position leaning against the wall for support. Father was, surprisingly, not resting on Tomuras face, He was instead sitting with the rest of Tomuras family piled on his bedside table.
"What do you need, Kurogiri?" Tomura asked, usual rasp inflicted with annoyance. "I simply was wondering if you were upset about anything, Tomura. You usually don't spend all of your time laying around in bed, is every thing alright?" Kurogiri asked, as calmly as they could while trying to not let their concern enter their voice. Tomura stilled slightly, eyes forming into a small glare, "Nothing's wrong, I'm just tired is all, don't feel like moving around." He said. A thought entered Kurogiris head and they quickly moved to Tomuras side and pressed their mist coated hand against what was available of Tomuras head. "Oh dear, are you sick? Have you been feeling nauseous?" Kurogiri says quickly, no longer bothering to hide the worry in their voice, "Is your vision dizzy at all? Do you need-" "Geez, I'm fine Kurogiri, back off." Tomura interrupted while attempting to swat their hand away from his forehead.
Kurogiri relented, letting their hand return to their side. "My apologies, Shigaraki Tomura. But really if you are feeling sick and need anything-" Tomura scoffed, interrupting them. "Seriously, I'm fine. Okay? I'm not sick or anything. You can leave now." He said, clearly trying to end this conversation as soon as possible. Kurogiri was quiet for a moment, thinking of what to say, "If something is bothering you, Tomura, I wish to help. But I can't if you do not tell me what the problem is."
Tomura stilled once more, while sat in silence Kurogiri hoping Tomura would be willing to accept their help and tell them what was wrong. "...it's stupid." He said quietly, "I feel, like, gross." Kurogiri inclined their head in a worried fashion before Tomura added, "Not in a sick way. In a, I don't like looking at myself in the mirror way. That sounds so stupid saying out loud, but, I don't like it when people refer to me. I don't like it when Sensei calls young man or when The Docter calls me boy i don't like it- I-" "Tomura." Kurogiri interrupted as softly as they could. Tomura winced slightly at the interruption and snapped their mouth shut, eyes darting down towards their knees, away from Kurogiri.
"...told you it was stupid." Tomura muttered miserably. "I do not think it is stupid Shigaraki Tomura." Kurogiri stated firmly, Tomura glanced up at them momentarily before returning to glaring at his knees, still maintaining a look of gloom.
"Tomura, the things making you feel sick are whenever someone uses certain gendered terms such as 'boy' or 'young man' for you, yes?" Kurogiri asked gently, Tomuras eyes started trailing off again. "I guess," they said quietly "Do you feel any discomfort when someone refers to you with 'he' or 'him'?" Tomura looked back up to them, "Yea actually, but I dont know why whats wrong with me-" "Tomura." Kurogiri gently interrupted again. Tomura looked back at them with a slight glare, they looked like they wanted to cry, but were refusing to out of principal. "Tomura, there's nothing wrong with you feeling discomfort with certain gendered terms, both you, Sensei and The Docter, use gender neutral terms for me don't you?" Tomura looked at them, their glare morphing into a confused expression, "Yea, I guess, I never really thought of it, you're just," Tomura paused, "You're Kurogiri." Kurogiri felt themself smile lightly through their mist.
"You know, if you want to test out using the terms that I use for yourself instead of the masculine ones you are used to, you could." Tomura paused, "Huh. Really? I can?" They asked, "Of course Tomura." Kurogiri answered, they took a breath "This is Shigaraki Tomura, I protect and care for them to the best of my abilities." Kurogiri started, "They are a person who enjoys spending time plating video games and plotting to overthrow the government." Kurogiri finished, a note of fondness dripping into their voice at the end, Tomura stopped to consider themselves, then looked to them with a thoughtful expression. "It feels, more comfortable. But not quite right, kinda." Kurogiri hummed, "How about she/her pronouns? Would you like to try those out, Shigaraki Tomura?" Tomura nodded, "This is Shigaraki Tomura, I protect and care for her to the best of my abilities. She enjoys playing video games and plotting the destruction of her enemies." They finished, once again letting fondness slip into their voice. Tomura looked at them with a new gleam in their eyes "I, I like those. They feel, they feel right." She said determinedly, Kurogiri allowed themself to smile fully at Tomura,
"Very well, would you like me to use she/her pronouns for you from now on?" "Yes." Tomura said with conviction, then then hesitated slightly, "But, I also kinda like the they them whateverness, so," She started, "So can I like, use both?" "Of course you can." Kurogiri replied, "So you'd like me to use She/Her and They/Them pronouns for you from now on?" They asked, "Yes." She confirmed, their small smile morphing into a wide catlike grin. "Alright, would you like me to inform Sensei about your pronoun change?" Tomura gave them a quizzical look, "Would he be okay with it?" They asked, a small note of concern entering her voice. "I don't see why not." They replied, "Sensei genders me correctly, and I know he has worked with trans individuals in the past, and respected them as he would anyone else." They stated with certainty. Sensei himself seemed rather uncaring of all things relating to traditional gendering. Mostly waving it off and briefly talking about the ways its meaninglessness was just another factor in the system of control led by the status quo whenever it was brought up.
"Cool. Yea cool." Tomura said finally. "That's, yea it's super cool." She said again, voice wavering. "Are you alright, Tomura?" Kurogiri asked gently, "No- I mean yea- I'm fine I- I'm happy, even. But I'm still- I don't-" they kept starting and stopping, face twisting with emotion and frustration at being unable to identify their feelings.
"It's alright." Kurogiri said patiently, "Take your time." Tomura made a noise of frustration, "I- ugh, fuck." She stopped and took a breath. "I don't know I should be happy. I was already making a big deal over something so stupid. And now I've got a solution and I'm happy but I'm also still fucking annoyed-" Her voice speeding up as her speech continued, her hands reaching up to start rapidly clawing at her neck as so often they so often did when she was stressed.
"Tomura." Kurogiri interrupted firmly. Tomura stopped scratching to gaze up at them, "It's okay to feel that way, it's okay to feel 'annoyed'. It may feel frustrating, but it's a change for you, and change can be scary. And not feeling okay is fine, it can take a while to feel comfortable in your gender and skin."
Tomura kept staring at them with a furrowed brow and a thoughtful expression before sighing to herself and letting her hands fall. "You really are a weirdo Kurogiri. When'd you get so smart with feelings?" Kurogiri sputtered in reply, "I am perfectly 'smart with feelings'. Thank you very much." They replied, without much genuine bite to their words. Tomura scoffed, "Yea right, one time I asked you what your favorite color was and you just stood there blankly before blurting out 'Yellow' like a whole hour later." "It was not an hour," Kurogiri replied defensively, "And opinion on colors has nothing to with being 'smart with feelings', they are entirely unrelated." Tomura scoffed again, this time with a small grin on her face. "Yea, keep telling yourself that, Giri." She trailed off, still smiling.
"Hm," Kurogiri started, "Well, I should be starting on dinner soon, if you'd like to come down and assist me?" They asked as they stood to leave, "Eh?" Tomura made a face at them. "Okay seriously, the fucks wrong with you today? I thought everyone but you was eternally and forever banned from your kitchen, esspecailly me. Mostly me." She deadpanned with intense skepticism.
"Well, I don't see why you can't assist me in the kitchen. It's when you're unsupervised I don't trust you in here." They retorted, as they started making their way towards the door, once again smiling through their mist. Tomura made an offended noise, "Unsupervised? I can be left unsupervised. This is totally unfair and I demand to speak to an attorney- Hey! Giri' where the fuck- get back here!-" She called out in increasing annoyance, hurriedly attempting to climb off their bed and follow Kurogiri out of her room.
Kurogiri sighed to themselves with mild exasperation as they heard an increasing number of muttered swears and hurried shuffling as Tomura attempted to rush to follow them. Still smiling through their mist as Tomura finally turned the corner to follow them down the stairs, grumbling mild complaints at them the whole way down. Kurogiri stopped and tilted their head to look up at her as they waited for her to make her way down to catch up with them. Tomura eventually made her way fully down to them.
They started back towards the kitchen, Tomura following and once again complaining at them about being left behind upstairs and annoyance at unfairness of cooking related bans. Kurogiri listened to them talk, noting the lack of any real bite or genuine annoyance behind her words.
They both made they're way to the kitchen, Tomura grumbling mildly at them the whole way, and Kurogiri, smiling to themselves, for a moment, was actually very glad Sensei was too busy to talk to Tomura this time round.