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“ Guys! Look! “ Shigaraki yells from the laundry room of the fully stocked abandoned house they found in the middle of the woods. Whoever lived there must’ve fled when the released villains started roaming the city. Dabi, Toga, and Spinner were all in the main area; the kitchen and the living room. When they first got there they were all assigned tasks:
Spinner's job was to board up the place, lock up all the doors, and make everything was as secure as possible before Dabi melted the locks to all of the places of entrance except for one.
Toga’s job was to search the living room for any money, valuables, clothes, pretty much anything that was useful or semi-essential for them.
And Dabi’s job was to scout the kitchen for food, water, and any money since he knew some people would hide stuff in their cabinets. At least, that’s what Natsuo used to do.
Finally, we get to Shigaraki- he was supposed to be scouting out most of the other areas of the house for any other people, animals, clothes, valuables, etc; again, anything useful. Instead, Tomura’s been spending the last 30 minutes in the laundry room and bathrooms doing-
“ What the hell are you doing? “
The white-haired male flinches, startled by Spinner approaching him from behind, even though he literally called out for the others to go over to him. He turns around with this star-struck, happy beyond words smile on his face, “ It's not dusting! “ Shigaraki says touching multiple things in the room at once with all five fingers.
“ You are really having a blast with your quirk now, aren't you? “ The lizardman says with a small snort, shaking his head. Shigaraki’s laugh is heard loud throughout the house, his voice full of the most joy anyone has ever seen or heard from him.
Faintly, the sound of the light tapping of shoes across the creaky wooden floor is heard in their direction. A peak of a blonde bun sticks out just a bit into the room at the door frame.
“ What’s Tomura doing? “ A soft and small voice says. A usually chipper voice and face that was always so full of crazed happiness is now nearly emotionless and somber.
Spinner leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed and this small smile on his face, still softly laughing at Shigaraki, trying to control his dorky snorting. He slightly gestures over to the other man, “ Well, Shigaraki over here is just having a total field day with his quirk. Look at him; the first thing this guy does after getting all this crazy new power is touch literally every single thing in this place “
“ I can control my quirk now! How could I not lose it? I never had the chance to do normal stuff like this, “ Shigaraki says with just the tiniest hint of annoyance in his voice.
Toga softly snorts. It's barely audible, but it's there. She hasn’t laughed since before their operation to take Giran back. “ Tomura-chan if you keep getting handsy with all of this stuff Dabi might get jelly, “ The teasing is heard and picked up on easily from Shigaraki and Toga nudges him with her elbow as she winks at him.
The three of them break into laughter.
They don’t know and haven’t noticed for the last 5 minutes, but Dabi has been standing across from the door on the other side of the hallway the laundry room is in with his arms crossed and with a soft, subtle smile on his face along with all the adoration in the world while he stares at his boyfriend.
“ Hey dimiwits, “ Dabi calls out to the three, “ If you guys actually wanna eat, I found food that I can cook. Unless you’d rather starve or let me eat everything, “ He says with no real malice in his voice.
He walks back over to the kitchen, while Toga runs up behind him and jumps on his back.
“ The fuck? Get off! “
“ Okay, okay, you two knock it off. “ Shigaraki says with a slightly annoyed sigh.
“It's too late for this. Let's just eat whatever Dabi is making and then call it a night. It’s been a long day. “ Toga jumps off of Dabi with a hmph and the older male starts to prepare their meal.
While they eat dinner, everything becomes much quieter, much tenser. The lighthearted mood only lasted for so long. They don’t talk about what went on earlier in the day. They don’t talk about Twice, Atsuhiro, or even Kurogiri- although he’s been in hero custody for quite a while.
After Dabi and Shigaraki clean up everyone’s dishes and trash, they all say goodnight to each other with a hug before going off to the rooms they picked out. Although there were four different rooms, Toga didn’t want to be by herself that night. Luckily, one of the bedrooms had two twin-sized beds next to each other; so she and Spinner shared a room together while Shigaraki and Dabi took the master bedroom.
Shigaraki walks into the master bedroom with Dabi as the scarred man closes and locks the door behind him. Oomph! “ Ugh... “ The shorter male groans as he falls hard onto the bed. He sighs.
“ We should rest. I know how exhausted and how much pain you’re in, “ Dabi says as he walks over to the bed, trying to help the other stand a bit. Once Shigaraki is sitting upright on the bed, Dabi takes off his jacket and helps him put it on.
“ We really have to go get everyone some new clothes, huh? “ He says with a small sigh. They both settle into the thankfully extremely comfortable bed and situate themselves so they’re both semi-comfortable for once in comparison to the usually unbearable amount of back pain they both have.
Hell, half of it is probably actually due to the fact that they haven’t slept in a proper bed, let alone a good bed for months.
“ Touya, “ He makes sure to avoid eye contact with the older male, “ Do you- don’t you think I look disgusting now? “
“ Excuse me? “
Tomura sighs and shuffles away from Touya a little bit. He sits up on the bed since he was laying down next to the other male and starts fidgeting with the trim of the blanket they’re under.
“ I mean, look at me, “
Touya looks over at his lover and his eyes trail along the vast expense of his face and chest; semi-fresh wounds that have begun to scar thanks to the slowly working regeneration quirk, some small fresh cuts, severe cracking starting from his forehead, going down his entire neck and getting a bit less severe toward his collarbones, severely dry skin, and huge healed wound scars covering large portions of skin all over his torso.
“ My hair is white, my body is severely damaged and scarred, my neck- Touya, my fucking ne- “, Tomura is quickly cut off, “ Shigaraki Tomura. Do you hear yourself right now? You want to start going off about extremely changed appearances? My hair is also white. You’ve seen the severity of my own scars that cover almost my entire body head to toe. I have staples all over my body. Do you think I’m disgusting? That I’m a pain to look at? “
The other shuffles a bit closer to the taller male once more, “ No! No, absolutely not. You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid my eyes on Touya, I don’t know how anyone could ever see you that way. “ Touya pulls Tomura into his arms and gently lifts up his chin with his finger so they’re both eye length and making direct eye contact. “ So what makes you any different from me, Tomu? “
It goes quiet for a minute. Tomura tries to evade his lover’s strong gaze, but it's almost as if those icy blue eyes are staring directly into his soul. It’s such a powerful gaze, one full of so much conviction that you almost couldn’t even dare challenge him.
“ Tomura, you’re gorgeous. I don’t care if you look like this now. You look like you and you’re perfect. Please don’t ever think of yourself like that babe; and if you do, you come straight to me and I’ll tell you for hours on end how unbelievably beautiful you are to remind you and make sure you know how amazing and perfect in every single way you are, “ Touya whispers close to his boyfriend before he lightly kisses his chapped lips.
“ I’m tired “
“ I know babe, let's try to rest, yeah? “ He whispers in a soft tone and lightly keeps his arm around him, not exactly holding him but not exactly staying away from him either.
At some point or another when they’re a bit more sleepy and on the brink of sleep, Tomura shuffles as close as he could over to his boyfriend and clings to Dabi chest to chest, wrapping his arms around him, holding him so tightly with a five-fingered grip.
And at first, it's quiet and normal, and Touya finally hugs Tomura back since he forgot to when he initially hugged him since he’s so tired and mentally and physically exhausted; so when his hands finally lay onto his boyfriend, a minute or two later as Dabi is nearly dead asleep, at first he only feels it- Tomura hard sobbing into his shirt, clutching his shirt so tightly and squeezing him tighter and tighter by the minute. Dabi opens his eyes and silently holds him just a tiny bit tighter, softly rubbing his hand up and down Tomura’s back with his left hand while his right softly pets his hair, cradling his head.
After a few minutes pass, Touya thinks that Shigaraki is probably now in a headspace where he can handle talking to someone, hearing them speak, needing him to speak, so he slowly starts to pull away, and immediately Tomura’s got a death grip on him while frantically he shakes his head, “ No, no! “, he speaks, voice still shaky. “ Don’t leave me after I've finally got you “.
Touya’s eyes slightly widen in confusion as he tries to gently peel Tomura off him just a bit. “ What are you talking about? I’ve always been yours, always “.
The only thing that is heard is Tomura sniffling for the next minute or so. When he speaks, it's so quiet that it's barely audible, “ I can finally touch you- hold you. I don’t- “ He’s not even able to finish his sentence before this sob from the deepest depths of his chest just rips through him.
He clings onto Touya like he’s never seen before, and Touya’s starting to get an idea of what’s going on here. Touya lets him just cry into him for the next couple of minutes before he tries to gently pull Tomura off of him again with just enough space to gently cup the side of his face and wipe some of his tears with his thumb, “ Breathe “ he speaks in a soft tone. Shigaraki tries his best to get a steady breathing pace but he keeps having these mini sobs breaking in through every breath.
Touya presses the gentlest of kisses to Tomura’s forehead and strokes his cheek softly with the thumb he used to brush his tears away with. Shigaraki’s breathing just gets a bit more steady, and he waits until he’s not pretty much choking on his own snot and spit before he tries to speak. He sniffles, “ I don’t- “ another deep breath, this time more successful than the last, “ have to be scared I’m gonna... That I’m gonna-” Dabi softly shushes him and pulls him back into his chest.
They lay like that for a while until Shigaraki’s breathing gets to a semi-normal pace, although Dabi’s shirt is basically drenched in snot, spit, and tears. Gross
Light featherlight touches are felt down his arm, causing him to shiver a bit. Rough fingers and scarred skin intertwine with his own and that’s when Shigaraki really loses it. He’s never held hands with anyone before. And all the times that Touya has tried to get him to hold hands with him in a four-fingered grip all either ended up with Tomura freaking out and being scared or in a mini fight.
Dabi brings their hands up to chest level and unlaces their fingers, hands just pressing against each other; fingers and palms laying evenly against each other. “ I know your hesitancy and fear won’t just magically go away now that you can shut off your quirk just like the rest of us since you’ve lived this way your entire life, but I want to make it so the only thing you ever feel when you hold my hand properly, is just contentment. “
Whelp, here come the waterworks again-
A silent sob rips through Tomura again, and Touya takes his other hand to place it atop of his own cheek. Touya softly presses his face into his boyfriend’s touch and even though he’s literally bawling in his arms, he softly smiles. “ If you never want to let go of me now that you don’t have to, then don’t. Touch me all you want. Nothing will happen, I promise. “
After that their hands don’t move. How many have minutes passed by? Who knows?
They surely don’t
Their hands stay in the exact same positions that they have been since Dabi put their hands together and on his face. Shigaraki’s hands never flinched, not once. Finally, after some time, he pulls off of his scarred boyfriend slowly all on his own. For the first time that night, he opens his eyes and stares into those beautiful icy blue eyes.
Tomura takes a deep breath and the tiniest of smiles makes its way across his face. He closes his eyes, places his left hand that was pressed to Dabi’s, and gently places it atop his boyfriend’s other cheek, his face now cradled gently in Tomura’s hands; and leans in to softly kiss the other. Touya smiles into the kiss and rests his hands on Tomura’s waist. They just stay like that for a bit; softly and lazily exchanging kisses.
Tomura is the first to pull back. He gently presses his forehead to Dabi’s, his eyes still closed.
“ I’ve always wanted to do that “, a tiny laugh is heard throughout the room.
The older male lifts his hand and squeezes it in between the two to cradle the other’s face as he is doing for him. Dabi smiles and places another soft kiss on his lips.
“ Things are changing, Tomu. And I think it’s only going to get better from here. The odds are in our favor, “ he starts to pull back and opens his eyes once more. “ And if they don’t, then who fucking cares? “
You could tell there was a shift in the air in the room. A thicker, heavier feeling. Not exactly stuffy yet, but starting to not be exactly the best environment for steady breathing. It wasn’t tension, no, but rather the somber weight of your fallen loved ones who died in battle. Much less in front of you
“ We may have lost Twice, and Atsuhiro.. and Kurogiri may be arrested, “ Dabi spoke, having to take a deep breath for the first time that night to keep his voice steady, not giving himself the chance to even remotely get emotional again, “ But we still have Toga and Spinner. And even though our family may be a bit torn apart right now, we still have each other. And I’m not going to let any of you get taken too. “
“ I came here to change society. And I want to keep my promise and change things for the better for all of us. I promised to see the end of the world with you, Tenko. “
Oh shit.
Yeah, no, Dabi NEVER uses Shigaraki’s given name.
It’s only happened once, and that wasn’t a memory that the both of them would necessarily like to remember. But this time- this time it was different. It was something so intimate, so sacred, saved only for moments like this.
“ What? “
“ I want to be there with you if things go to shit. I want to share even more of your firsts with you. I want to be there with you when the world ends; I want to be there with you when you’re finally on top and this is all some faint and vivid memory. “ Touya speaks, disregarding the small drops of blood that are starting to seep from the scars under his eyes. The other male’s expression is slightly unreadable, and Touya isn’t exactly sure what to make of it.
Shigaraki’s laugh is light in the air and his smile is evident when he shakes his head slightly, “ What are you saying stapleface? Is that a proposal? Hm? “ He stares once more into those icy cold irises and Touya smirks.
He leans in close, whispering against the shorter’s lips, “ And if it was mophead? “
“ Then I’d say yes. See the end of the world with me Touya,“
After that they say nothing. Everything they want to say is silently spoken through the loving kisses they exchange while they softly giggle in between kisses from time to time.
Touya is the first one to pull back from their kiss this time, with one of the softest smiles on his face, and all the adoration for his newly made fiance in his eyes. “ You don’t have to force yourself to touch me if you’re not entirely comfortable doing that. Your fears and experiences are valid, and you know I won’t take anything personally if you chose not to, “ he turns to kiss the inside of Tomura’s palm softly. “ We’ll go at your own speed. “
The only response that Dabi gets from him is a small peck of the lips. “ Hold me tonight? “
“ Always. Whenever you want, “
Things finally start to settle down for the night, the air has gone lax and peaceful for once. The only sound in the room is their soft breathing.
“ Touya? “
Dabi shuffles a bit and yawns, “ Yeah? “ he keeps his eyes closed.
“ I never once thought that I’d ever be able to have any of this; a family, a lover, let alone have a fiance. “ Tomura places his head on the snowy-haired man’s chest over his heart.
Badump, Badump, Badump
“ I never thought that I’d ever be able to be a normal person. My quirk isn’t made for any of that. My quirk wasn’t made to love, wasn’t made for anything good. I think- “ He takes a deep breath, “ I think that over time I’ll be able to figure out for myself what my normal is. Because everything’s changed now. “
Touya’s grip tightens slightly at his lover’s words. He does his best to place a soft kiss atop his head, despite him being half asleep. “ I want to be able to be fearless when I’m with you. Like, at home I mean. “
The other male yawns, “ All in due time, babe “ he mumbles, voice rough and groggy.
“ Thank you, Touya. “
“ Mm? For what? “ Dabi slurs, slightly a bit more awake than a second ago.
“ Everything. “
They go silent for a moment and snuggle even closer together, even though admittedly it's kind of uncomfortable like this. But they don’t care.
Shigaraki nuzzles his head softly in between the crook of Touya’s neck and shoulder. “ Thank you for showing me how good it feels to have your hand held; how good it feels to be wanted, how good it feels to be loved, “
“ You don’t have to thank me, Tomu. I love you Tenko, always have. “
“ I love you too, Touya. “
And just like that, they fall asleep in each other’s warm, and loving embrace and never separate the entire night. Despite earlier’s large feat, Tomura subconsciously keeps his pinkies up as he hugs Dabi throughout the night. But as they slept, for once Tomura’s anxiety was a lot more manageable that night. He’s a lot less scared of his stupid soot-covered boyfriend crumbling beneath his touch.
That night neither of them had any nightmares. And although the day had been nothing but full of tragedy, anger, fear, and death, they felt at peace.
As long as they stuck together, they would definitely change society together.