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Toga bursts through the door of the bar like a child on a sugar rush. Her cheeks are flushed, her smile stretching from each end of her face. The bar was where most of the league met up. Shigaraki sat hunched over at the bar, conversing with Kurogiri about a new plan. Spinner was wiping blood off his sword. He looks like he just came back from a mission. Dabi was smoking on the corner sofa, his legs kicked up across the armrest. Mr. Compress was grandly showing Twice a new magic trick he came up with, an easy slick of the wrist with a coin. Twice watches him with starry eyes. The sudden intrusion of the girl causes them to stop what they were doing to look towards the door where she was standing. Her eyes were lit with mischief.
“Guys!” she squeals, flapping her arms in excitement. “Let's get everyone to rank each other from favourite to least favourite, and whoever wins, we all have to steal something for them!”
There is a moment of silence before Shigaraki scoffs. He hated being rudely interrupted by something so unnecessary. “What crazy thing have you seen online again this time?”
Toga just giggles; a cheeky expression crosses her face. She doesn’t say anymore.
Atsuhiro comes into the conversation with a polite chuckle, one hand resting on the table, the coin still resting between his fingers. “That prize does intrigue me. I am in desperate need of a new coat.”
“What happened to your other one that you always wear?” Jin asks, head tilting curiously.
“It’s a tragedy!” Atsuhiro says dramatically. “It was ripped during our last mission!” He shows his yellow trench coat by extending his arm to show the small rip on the sleeve. It is barely visible. The others look at him with an unimpressed expression.
Dabi gives a smirk like he was trying to suppress a chuckle. “You’ll survive.”
“I am surrounded by idiots,” Shigaraki mutters under his breath, scratching his neck aggressively.
“Give it here, I have learnt how to sew to keep my mask always stitched up. YOU ARE ALL USELESS.” Jin reaches out to inspect the coat. “It's only a small scratch.”
Atsuhiro hesitates, looking mildly offended before Jin looks back to Toga. “Anyway, I’m in. Let's play your weird game, Toga!”
Toga lights up. She clearly already came prepared in advance. She whips out stolen paper from their small office and cute glitter pens in hand that she owns from when she was young. She hands out everyone a piece of paper and a pen. “Okay, so write your rankings from favourite to least favourite, from 1 - 6. You can include explanations too, but be honest.”
Without hesitation, Atsuhiro and Dabi were quick to start writing the list. Atsuhiro gets out his own elegant fountain pen from the inside pocket of his coat to complete the task. Jin quickly writes a name for the top spot immediately, but struggles with the rest of the list. He scratches his head, scribbles out a name, rewrites it, then scribbles it out again. Spinner was in a similar predicament, taking a petty ranking game seriously as to not offend his teammates.
Kurogiri is staring at his paper in contemplative silence before finally picking up his purple glitter pen.
Toga doodles tiny hearts around beside each name in an attempt to make it look cute. She already knows her list as she writes each name effortlessly.
Jin groans as he scribbles out another name. “This is hard,” he mumbles quietly. “What if I like you all the same? Nah, I hate you all the same.”
Meanwhile, Atsuhiro caps his pen and elegantly places it on the table beside his paper, he is the first to finish. Dabi and Toga follow shortly behind. Toga giggles behind her paper, and Dabi places his list flipped over so no one takes a peek.
The silence breaks when Shigaraki grunts in frustration. Atsuhiro cringes with their boss's pen holding technique.
“Spinner, how do you spell your real name again?” he grumbles, glaring down at the paper.
Spinner looks up from his paper. “Just put Spinner.” He says with a deadpan expression.
Shigaraki huffs, feeling offended. His lack of education made this a struggle for him, and it was starting to show. He hates being reminded of it; he feels inferior. Kurogiri notices. He leans in and helps him, whispering each letter with patience only he possesses in their little group of misfits.
Toga was slowly getting impatient as she was visibly getting twitchy. “Hurry up, Jin!”
“I’M TRYING!” Jin panics, writing down the last name before throwing his pen across the room so he doesn’t change it at the last minute.
Finally, the last pen rests at the side. They all hand the lists back to Toga. Her eyes widen in anticipation.
“Let’s see who is our most beloved villain!”
Toga’s list was first to be read out loud. Her handwriting was girly, with curved calligraphy and every “i” dotting with a heart. The page is decorated in different coloured glitter pens with cute doodles, hearts, and stars. She read out her list with pride.
TOGA’S RANKINGS
- JINNNY (He's like the best big brother I never had. He gets me.)
- Tomuraa (He lets us do what we want! Best boss ever!)
- Mister~ (He spoils me and treats me well. He can be bossy sometimes.)
- Shuchi! (A secret softie underneath his serious exterior.)
- Kurogiri (He cares for us like our League dad. I just wish he would let loose once in a while.)
- Dabi (Can be scary, and he smells. Let a poor girl breathe.)
Jin’s face lights up the moment he hears he is at the top. “Aww, Toga!” he cries, already getting up to hug the girl. “I put you first too! Read mine next. Don’t read it, it’s too embarrassing!” He cowers slightly.
Toga giggles as he pulls his list out from the stack. “Too late… I am already trying to read behind the scribbles.” She squints at the paper, trying to decipher the mess. Along with the scribbles, the page was decorated with doodles of each of their faces and rambles in the margins.
TWICE’S RANKINGS
- TOGAAAA (She’s like my little sister! I’ll protect her always. :3)
- MR. COMPRESS (He is really nice to me and his magic tricks always cheer me up. He smells nice :3)
- SPINNER (Video game buddy. He does not get mad at me when I lose.)
- KUROGIRI (He is nice to me and a great listener.)
- BOSSMAN (PLEASE DON’T KILL ME FOR NOT PUTTING YOU HIGHER.)
- DABII (Scary and mean. He blamed me for setting fire to the couch THAT HE STARTED!)
Jin is sweating profusely.
“Twice I don’t care that you ranked me so low,” Shigaraki says unexpectedly. “I saw you struggling to rank us. You were having a meltdown over it.” His voice was oddly casual; it put Jin’s nerves at ease. The leader may have lacked an education, but he didn’t lack emotional awareness, especially in the league. He is smarter than he seems.
Jin gives an exaggerated sigh of relief. Until…
“WAIT, why did you say I smell good?” Atsuhiro speaks up dramatically, his eyebrows raised.
“LET’S MOVE ON!!” Jin yelps, his voice cracking.
The next in line is Atsuhiro, whose list was written in elegant script. He used his own fountain pen to write it. There are no doodles, only precision.
MR. COMPRESS ’ RANKINGS
- Jin (The heart of this odd little group. My assistant in magic and crime.)
- Shigaraki (Our beloved leader.)
- Kurogiri (A gentleman, nice to have another mature person to converse with.)
- Toga (Sweet girl when she is not asking for my blood.)
- Spinner (I respect him, his loyalty is admirable.)
- Dabi (He is well… mysterious but also a brat sometimes.)
Jin’s eyes waters with tears knowing he came first in someone's list for a second time. “He called me the heart of the group…” he whispers, clutching his chest. Those words did things to his beating heart.
“Ain’t no way Twice is first again. He is going to win at this rate.” Spinner spoke with a slight playful resentment in his voice. “Can I change my list real quick?” he adds, only half-serious.
“No! That’s against the rules, Spinner.” Toga scolds.
“Yeah, what she said!” Jin says quickly. “ I am going to win! I can’t believe you guys love me.” He tears up more with emotion.
“Can we just move onto mine now?” Spinner interrupted.
“LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT!” Jin shouts towards the lizard. “I’m the winner right now!”
Toga pulls out Spinner’s list next and clears her throat. His list appears normal with average handwriting and minor spelling errors. “We all know who is going to be first.” Toga teases with a smirk.
SPINNER’S RANKINGS
- The boss (My ride or die.)
- Twice (Genuine guy.)
- Toga (Terrifying, but I admire her free spirit.)
- Compress (Entertaining.)
- Kurogiri (Helpful.)
- Dabi (He keeps calling me lizard. We are going to fight one day.)
“I knew he would put Tomura first!” Toga squeals. “That’s adorable.”
“It's so obvious,” Dabi mutters.
Atsuhiro looked towards Dabi. “Haven’t you noticed you have been last on every list so far?”
Dabi just rolls his eyes but doesn't speak. He pretends not to care, but the twitch in his jaw says otherwise.
Toga, oblivious, prepares to read the next list. Their leader is next. “Ooooh~ our fearless leader is next!” She clears her throat before reading out loud.
SHIGARAKI’S RANKINGS
- Spinner (Loyal. Plays league with me)
- Kurogiri (I have known him forever.)
- Toga (Crazy, but she gives me snacks.)
- Compress (Neutral.)
- Twice (Too emotional. Gullible.)
- Dabi (Talks back to me. His stupid face pisses me off.)
“Aaaa! Tomura has Shuichi as his number 1 too! You guys are sooo cute.” Toga immediately squeals again. “Poor Jin is falling behind though.”
Spinner turns pink and tries to hide behind his hoodie.
Meanwhile, Jin looks deflated. He strips his mask off and clutches it to his chest. “It’s what I deserve for putting the boss so low,” He says.
Shigaraki's face matches Spinner's, looking flustered. He yanks his hood a little lower on his face. “Can we just move on to finish this!” he snaps.
“Okaaaayy~ Kurogiri is up next!” Toga sings out with a wink.
KUROGIRI’S RANKINGS
- Shigaraki.
- Iguchi.
- Bubaigawara.
- Sako.
- Toga.
- Dabi.
“Where are the notes, Kurogiriii?” Toga asks with a whine. “Where is the fun?”
“You said explanations were optional.” Kurogiri's voice echoes in his deep, commanding voice. “I was merely following orders.”
“You’re no fun sometimes,” She pouts.
“Shigaraki is first again.” Spinner cuts in. “He probably will beat Twice at this point.”
Jin let out a soft whimper. “I was close to being the favourite… WHAT WERE YOU EXPECTING!”
“Frankly, I am more offended that no one has placed me first.” Atsuhiro chimes in with his usual theatrical voice. He flips his coat over his shoulder with a flourish. “I doubt Dabi will be so kind as to put me first.”
Dabi chuckles beside him. His arms are crossed.
“Oooh, I’m excited to see Dabi’s list,” Toga says as she gets the list in hand. She scans over it for a couple of seconds before realising what was written. Her brows lift. “Are you serious, Dabi? You can’t count yourself!” She turns the paper around so that everyone can see.
DABI’S RANKINGS
- Himself
- Hawks
- Crazy girl
- The boss
- Everyone else
- Twice.
“What? It’s only fair considering you all ranked me dead last.” Dabi shrugs as he lights another cigarette.
“And why the hell is the number 2 hero included?” Shigaraki screeches, his voice rising in disbelief.
“Why not? At least he’s better to hang out with than watching the rest of you complain.”
Dabi says dryly.
“You literally ranked our enemy above your found family,” Spinner says, his face deadpan.
“We all know why Dabi included him.” Toga sweetly says, wiggling her eyebrows.
Atsuhiro sighs heavily. “Can we all agree to disqualify Dabi? We all know he has completely failed this game.”
The others nodded in agreement, even Kurogiri. Dabi mumbles to himself about how he didn’t care to win anyway. Toga starts to tally all the points using her calculator on her phone, until she comes to a final score. She slams the results down when finished. It is as follows:
FINAL RANKINGS:
- Shigaraki
- Twice
- Toga
- Spinner
- Mr. Compress
- Kurogiri
Disqualified - Dabi
“YAAAY! Well done, Shiggy!” Toga claps and cheers to congratulate him. Jin joins in, and Atsuhiro claps along too.
“I demand a new game by tomorrow.” Shigaraki declared before pulling out his phone to play straight into his mobile gacha game. “Spinner knows which one.”
“I was so close!” Jin whines, flopping dramatically on the floor. “I thought you all loved me!”
Atsuhiro reaches down, placing a gentle hand onto Jin’s shoulder.“You are still number 1 on my list, my dear Jin,” he says, trying to reassure him.
“I still can’t get over what you wrote about me on yours.” Jin giddily says. “IT WAS SO DISGUSTING.” He spots the coat resting on Atsuhiro’s shoulder as he pulls himself off the floor. “Oh wait! I said I would fix that for you. Gimme here!”
Atsuhiro gives his coat with a soft smile as they leave the room together to go look for thread and a needle.
“Well, that was fun!” Toga says with a bright smile that she is pleased with her idea.
Spinner mutters. “I did better than I expected.” his arms are crossing, but he is secretly proud of himself.
Kurogiri’s yellow eyes sharpen in the dim light. It looks like he is smiling even with a lack of a face. I guess that could have gone worse.
“...Let us never do that again.”