Archive of Our Own ^beta

Honestly, Natsuo had never been much of a gamer.

Like, he enjoyed playing a few rounds of Smash Heroes or Mario Kart, but he had never really been one to play games on his own or join any of those MMO games.

He had volleyball matches and swimming after all, and med school was no joke. Besides, the endorphins and stress relief he got from slamming volleyballs across the net or slicing through the water were unparalleled, and he didn’t think any video game could compare.

However, lately, it had gotten really hard to coordinate with friends to play volleyball. His schedule was insane (residency was doing him no favors in this regard—although at the very least now, he didn’t have 24 hour shifts anymore), and his friends’ schedules all conflicted as well.

“I can’t just sip tea and watch some movies like you do, Shouto,” he complains to his baby brother, sprawling out on his couch. “Swimming is fine, but I’m too far from a swimming pool to swim at night these days. And I actually want to feel like I’m doing something.”

Shouto raises an eyebrow and sips the tea he had just made, “…you could try playing games like Midoriya does?” he offers.

“Izuku-kun games? Where does he find the time?” Natsuo asks wonderingly.

Shouto shrugs, “He used to play more, although now of course, it’s less often. Still, he likes to log-in every once in a while and take back his rank.”

“Somehow has time to be the #1 Pro-Hero and ranked in some game. Endeavor can eat his heart out,” Natsuo comments. “What game is it?”

Shouto frowns and picks up his phone to text his friend (that he was suspiciously close to). “…Nine Chivalrous Heroes,” he reads off the screen, “Midoriya is very excited you might play—he wants me to tell you that it’s really fun, there’s a lot of different sects you can join, there’s lots of events, the combat mechanics are interesting, the graphics are really pretty, and most of the players are pretty nice—although there’s one or two you may want to watch out for. He says you can join the guild he’s in if you like.”

“Uh—that’s a lot,” Natsuo says, getting out his own phone to google the game. A couple of videos pop up with a black robed man carrying a shining black sword and defeating players, a bird’s eye view of a verdant valley full of falling flowers, and a sea demon cackling away. “Oh hey—it does look pretty cool. Maybe I’ll check it out!”

“If you need tips, you can always ask Midoriya. Although he may talk your ear off for an hour,” Shouto says with a shrug and a small smile.

Later that night, another volleyball game having fallen through, Natsuo clicks on the Nine Chivalrous Heroes website and decides just to go ahead and download it to try it out.

It takes a bit, but eventually the thing loads, and he examines his character options.

He doesn’t really want to play a damage-dealing sect all that much, he doesn’t really like attacking people.

The Mount Putuo sect was a healer sect that seemed pretty straightforward, but the skill tree was so boring, they could pretty much only heal, and the character options all looked the same, slender willowy women and men in gauzy clothing.

On the other hand, the Fairy Fox Cave sect seemed kind of fun. They could heal and seal, and if their skill tree was kind of complicated, it would at least give Natsuo something to fiddle around with and get better at. Plus, Fairy Fox Cave members got cool fluffy tails.

Or at least, female characters did. Male ones generally had fox heads, and their tails seemed less fluffy.

In the end, Natsuo picks a female fox fairy, and names her Summer Breeze.

Izuku had been ecstatic to hear that he wanted to play and had sent over about a million different guides, although he had been apologetic that the novice village in the game was a bit boring, with the quests very simple and not a lot going on.

But it’s really about perfect for Natsuo, who only plays every once in a while to de-stress anyway. He can peacefully learn how to use his fox fairy’s abilities while admiring the pretty scenery and animated graphics.

He wouldn’t say he’s an especially good player—he’s seen videos of top players like Yearning For, and he is definitely not up to their level, but he likes to think that he has fairly good reflexes, and his fox fairy’s blood seals and blood pools seem to be hitting more accurately now.

He putters through the little quests that require him to herd sheep, fetch items for NPC’s, and escort NPC’s across a few low level maps while fighting off demons.

It’s all fairly enjoyable since the NPC’s are kind of fun, and the game’s graphics are really pretty, up until he starts having to team up with other players for quests.

Most players are fine—they’re a bit like him, just starting to play the game and enjoying the new maps and quests they can play, but there are a couple of assholes who start catcalling and messaging him disgusting things as soon as he shows up.

It probably didn’t help that he was using a voice-changer to sound like a girl—it fit Summer Breeze’s character better—but that still didn’t justify any of the shit they kept saying!

“Girl gamers have it super rough,” he mentions to Fuyumi as he blacklists yet another disgusting guy. “All of them must be super tough.”

Fuyumi shakes her head, “You just figured that out? Also—why don’t you play a male character? Or at least stop using the voice changer?”

“But then I’ll have to start all over, and I won’t even have a fluffy tail!” Natsuo whines. “And—it’s weird having my voice with Summer Breeze.”

Fuyumi gives him a look. “…well, alright, but then you’re just going to have to deal with weird comments.”

“Wish I could beat them up in real life,” Natsuo mutters, clicking to send Summer Breeze off to talk to another NPC for a quest.

“If they saw you in real life, they definitely would think twice,” Fuyumi says, patting him on the arm. “Rumi-san was asking me if I knew your workout routine.”

“Oh nice, are you finally going out with her?” Natsuo asks, looking over at her.

Fuyumi blushes, “No! Why do you and Touya keep asking that!”

“Probably because you guys would be cute, and Miruko seems nice?” Natsuo suggests, leaning over his chair. “Hawks says that he’s never seen her with such an enormous crush—”

“We’re not like that, and you should focus more on your own studies,” Fuyumi scolds, swatting his arm. “If you fail out of residency because you got sucked into a game, Touya will never stop making fun of you until the day you die. And Mother will be so disappointed.”

“I’ll be fine, no worries, I only spend like an hour or two every day that I don’t have like a 24 hour shift,” Natsuo reassures her.

“I still can’t believe they make you do that; it can’t be good for anyone, including the patients,” Fuyumi grumbles, pushing his hair out of his face.

“It’s archaic and weird yeah, but hopefully it’ll be over soon,” Natsuo sighs.

“You’re eating okay?” Fuyumi asks worriedly.

“I’m good, Touya keeps dropping by to shove bento boxes into my fridge,” Natsuo reassures her.

“He keeps doing that with Shouto too—and I know Hawks would die of a heart attack if he wasn’t around. Maybe he should give up his vigilante group and just become a chef,” Fuyumi muses.

“I’d be there like every day,” Natsuo nods. “Still—it’s good for him to be out there doing what pro-heroes can’t. Just wish he’d drop some of his old League of Villains’ friends…”

“Well, they’re reformed now, like him. They’re not too bad,” Fuyumi says, running a hand through her hair.

Natsuo snorts, “They definitely enable all his edginess. That Shigaraki Tomura—”

“I think he’s going by Shimura Tenko now,” Fuyumi interrupts.

“Whatever he’s going by now, he’s still an edgy bastard who used to run a villain organization,” Natsuo says with a wave of his hand.

“And Touya used to be one of their Vanguard squad members, so I feel like we can’t cast too many stones,” Fuyumi reminds him.

“Yeah, yeah, at least Touya also has a few other friends now,” Natsuo mutters.

“Who are all also working for a vigilante group,” Fuyumi sighs. “I do wish he had some more normal friends.”

“He has us and Hawks,” Natsuo offers.

Fuyumi looks unimpressed, “Hawks is a disgraced former pro-hero who also helps him with his vigilante work. I wouldn’t say he’s that good of an influence.”

“He still helps out with the younger generation of pro-heroes sometimes!” Natsuo protests.

“Yes,” Fuyumi purses her lips. “It’s still weird.”

“Well anyway, even you have to admit he’s better than Shigaraki Tenko or whatever he’s calling himself these days,” Natsuo says with distaste.

(He knows it’s somewhat hypocritical of him to not like Touya hanging out with ex-villains given who Touya himself is, but—

Shigaraki ran an organization that harmed a good number of people and went after Shouto more than once.

And yeah, Touya hurt people and killed people too, but—

He supposes it’s terrible of him, but he can forgive Touya a lot just for being back and alive and willing to talk to them.)

“I guess,” Fuyumi says. “Well anyway—don’t spend too much time on the game, but also don’t overwork yourself!”

He finally gets out of the novice village, and besides Izuku (whose username is of course AllMightNumberOne) taking him on a few quests that mostly was comprised of him hanging back and tossing blood pools and healing at Izuku, he also makes a few in-game friends, a girl mage called BlackMarketTech (who had probably hacked the game because he’s pretty sure she’s carrying way more items than is generally allowed) and a guy called No Hands on Me.

He actually met No Hands on Me when he was trying to fight off some bullies who were picking on other newbie players, looking to score some easy gold.

No Hands on Me made short work of the bullies and then turned to him and said, “Don’t try to play the hero if you’re so weak.”

“Hey, there was no one else around to help them!” Natsuo protested. “Even if I’m not that good yet, numbers could prevail!”

“Not with that shitty equipment you’ve got on—why did they even jump you guys, you’re barely got enough gold between all of you to be worth more than just doing dailies,” No Hands On Me crosses his gauntleted arms and seems to be glaring at Natsuo.

Natsuo just shrugged. “I guess some people are just lazy and would rather bully people than just do their dailies.”

No Hands On Me twitched and muttered, “Then they shouldn’t be in this game in the first place—the title is Nine Chivalrous Heroes, not Nine Lameass Bullies.”

“Sometimes heroes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be though,” Natsuo had said darkly.

No Hands On Me stilled, and Natsuo had braced himself for the obvious incoming rant.

(Even with the fallout that had resulted from Touya’s video and Hawks’ later video about everything that he had done in the service of the Hero Commission, some people just still really loved pro-heroes.

Endeavor still has fans, and Natsuo has to very carefully block accounts that had those views or else his anger would just swirl inside his belly and stew in his mind.

After everything he had done, some people still felt sorry for him, and had no pity at all for the family that he had crushed along the way to get what he wanted.)

“…not a big fan of heroes?” No Hands On Me had asked slowly.

Natsuo raised his little fox spirit’s chin and said, “Yeah, not really. We have a problem here?”

“No. I’m not a huge fan of most heroes either,” No Hands On Me said casually. “Are you one of those weirdo villain stans?”

“Uh no,” Natsuo replied. “They have a point, but it would be a little weird to be fans of them when some of them tried to kill me.”

(And when one of them was his own older brother.

He still thought it’s kind of weird that Touya was still close to all his League of Villain members—and both he and Touya were displeased with how often Mr. Compress has been dropping in on Mother.

Mother definitely deserved to find true love!

But hopefully not with a former villain??? It’s weird!)

“…you specifically?” No Hands On Me demanded, his voice slightly strange.

“Well, one kind of did—and you know, that League of Villains boss tried to kill everyone at one point,” Natsuo shrugged again. “Or his boss did? Not entirely sure what went down, but anyway, the point still stands, I could have died.”

“…yeah,” No Hands On Me agreed. “Not much to worship on either side, to be sure.”

“Nice to meet someone who can be normal about not liking either of them,” Natsuo beamed and made his avatar stick her hand out. “I’m Summer Breeze!”

“…I know, your username hovers above your head,” No Hands On Me pointed out.

“Yeah—well—thanks! You’re sort of an asshole, but also sort of not,” Natsuo continued cheerfully.

No Hands On Me hadn’t said anything to that and just wandered off.

Natsuo had assumed that that would be the last he saw of him, but the edgelord with limited edition armor (he had looked it up later and either No Hands On Me was obscenely wealthy or he had been part of a guild who had managed to kill off the demon boss of a limited edition event instance) had shown up again when Natsuo had been busy trying to do a sea monster instance.

“Your build isn’t right to solo that instance,” No Hands On Me said matter-factly.

“Yeah, I know,” Natsuo sighed. “Don’t have time to join a guild though—so I’m trying my best over here by myself.”

“Why?” No Hands On Me asks incredulously. “Do you need a Pearl of the Depths that badly?”

“It has the conclusion of the sea witch arc there doesn’t it?” Natsuo asks indignantly, “I need to see that so badly—I’ve been looking forward to it for a month!”

It shouldn’t be possible for No Hands On Me to look gobsmacked since their avatar’s faces can’t really change, and plus, he’s got on some kind of black mask, but he still manages to look stunned. “…why do you want to see the conclusion of the sea witch arc so badly?”

“Because I want to see if she reconciles with her siblings and murders her abusive dad!” Natsuo cries out, clenching his fist to his chest. “If there’s any other ending, that’s a cop-out.”

“…yeah, I guess you’re right,” No Hands On Me acknowledges before turning around. “I can take you through.”

“What? Really? You want to—what’s the term—carry me?” Natsuo asks excitedly.

“You’re going to have to pull your own weight too—I’ve never worked with a Fairy Fox Cave person before, but you better seal when you should seal, and heal me when I need it,” No Hands On Me says grumpily.

Natsuo makes his Fair Fox Cave pull an exaggerated salute, her fox ears twitching. “Aye, aye captain! This noob will do their best!”

No Hands On Me didn’t seem all that impressed, but Natsuo really does try his best throughout the instance, keeping a careful eye on No Hands On Me’s health bar while sealing the sea witch whenever he can, and as No Hands On Me launches his ultimate necromancer attack, the sea witch dissolves into bubbles.

The screen flickers, and it starts playing the sea witch’s cutscene, with her reuniting with her protagonist sibling and talking through things, and then the two of them going off to confront their abusive dad together and dethrone him.

“…are you crying?” No Hands On Me asks disbelievingly.

“No!” Natsuo protests, sniffling and wiping off his tears with the back of his hand. “It’s just—it’s just very moving!”

“Hm,” No Hands On Me sniffs. “I still think it would have been better if she or the protagonist had killed their dad.”

“Yeah, maybe, but the game would probably get slammed for that,” Natsuo points out. “Also—at least this way, neither of them have to live with any guilt about killing someone?”

No Hands On Me is silent for a moment, long enough that Natsuo wanders if he’s gone AFK, before he abruptly says, “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, you better go exchange that Pearl of the Depths as quickly as possible before someone tries to mug you for it.”

“You don’t want it?” Natsuo asks in surprise.

“I already have legendary class armor,” No Hands On Me sneers.

Natsuo eyes No Hands On Me’s dark robes and nods knowingly. “I get it—the pearlescent sheen would completely disrupt your goth aesthetic, huh? I have a brother like that—will never wear anything that ruins his edgelord-ness.”

No Hands on Me snorts and says, “I know someone like that too. But anyway, no, the attack stats I have on this are much better. Pearl of the Depths will work much better with your build than mine.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Natsuo says, equipping the pearl and admiring the new shiny pearl hairpin that his avatar is now wearing in her long white hair. “Thanks!”

“Whatever, the XP is good and now I can finally go challenge the guild leader for control over the guild,” No Hands On Me shrugs.

“Good luck!” Natsuo wishes him.

Within a week, while Natsuo is puttering around the little cottage he got in-game and deciding how to decorate it, No Hands On Me appears at his door, with a fancy sleek cloak draped over his shoulders.

“I took over my guild,” No Hands On Me announces.

“Oh, that’s great! Congrats!” Natsuo says, turning to face him then gesturing at the room. “So what do you think—I managed to get some cherrywood furniture and I also managed to get a lamp from the summer beach event!”

“It clashes horribly,” No Hands On Me bluntly informs him.

Natsuo makes his avatar’s head tilt. “Well—maybe a little. Still, I didn’t have time to farm the whole event to get a matching set, so—this will have to do for now!”

“….I have a patio set, if you want it,” No Hands On Me offers.

Natsuo raises his eyebrows. “What, is it too cheerful for you?”

“I already have a patio set, and with a username like Summer Breeze, you should take this one,” No Hands On Me grunts before holding up a hand. “In exchange for answering a question: who is your most hated pro hero?”

“Endeavor,” Natsuo answers promptly.

No Hands On Me nods, walking outside and taking the summery patio set out of his inventory. “Good choice, that guy was a real piece of shit.”

Natsuo grins, arranging the straw chairs around. “Who’s yours?”

“…it used to be All Might,” No Hands On Me says quietly.

Natsuo blinks in surprise. “Huh. I feel like you’re the first person I met who ever picked him.”

“Yeah, well, I’m just unique like that, I guess,” No Hands On Me snaps at him.

Natsuo makes his avatar hold her hands up. “Hey, hey, I’m not dinging you on it. Did you hate him because you thought he was overrated, or because his fans drive you insane? Or something else?”

(He hopes it’s not some actual dark secret because that would upset both Shouto and Izuku.

Although he can’t say that he would be surprised—nothing about the Pro-Hero world really surprises him anymore, sadly.)

No Hands On Me shrugs. “He tries to save all those people, but he didn’t see what was right in front of him a lot of times, did he? …you hate Endeavor, so you should also think that if even you knew what a piece of shit Endeavor was, All Might should have known too if he had cared to look, right?”

Natsuo stills, his hand on the mouse.

(Sure, sometimes he had thought that.

He had thought it a mostly ungenerous thought since All Might had so much going on—why would he bother looking into the situation of his most prominent rival?

But still, it had all been right there—Mother’s breakdown, Shouto’s scar, Touya’s death—

And no one, not even All Might, had bothered to lift a finger about it until Touya had come back to life as Dabi and plastered it over every single channel.

And even after—

Well, it’s all in the past now, but he doesn’t blame Touya for his giant chip on his shoulder.

But did No Hands On Me really hold a grudge against All Might for something that was so personal to Natsuo?)

“…yeah,” Natsuo agrees cautiously. “He definitely had some blinders on. But you said he used to be, so does that mean you don’t hate him anymore?”

“…he may have been a bit better than I thought,” No Hands On Me says grudgingly. “Since he mentored Deku and all…”

“Oh you’re a Deku fan!” Natsuo cheers. “Good choice, good choice, I like him too!”

No Hands On Me somehow manages to make his avatar pull a face behind the mask. “I wouldn’t say I’m a fan . He’s just—not as bad as the others. Tries to actually be a hero.”

“That’s Deku,” Natsuo says, making a note to tell Izuku later. “So anyway, who’s your least favorite now?”

“Best Jeanist,” No Hands On Me instantly replies. “I hate his smug self-righteousness and moralizing.”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Natsuo says, nodding and making his avatar nod as well. “So offended by the idea of the precious façade of the infallibility of pro-heroes getting out instead of, you know, actual abuse.”

No Hands On Me points to him. “You get it. …you want to join my guild?”

Natsuo can’t help but laugh in surprise. “What, you’ve got a guild full of Best Jeanist haters? Or just pro-hero haters?”

“Something like that,” No Hands On Me says evasively, before continuing, “It’s pretty fun—I’m in charge now, so I kicked out all the gross assholes. You can finally do all the guild quests, and no one’s going to be creepy at you if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m more worried about participating enough to not get kicked out,” Natsuo says, a little touched despite himself. “My work schedule is pretty crazy.”

No Hands On Me nods. “Don’t worry about that, as long as you login like once every two weeks, I’ll make sure you don’t get kicked out.”

“Isn’t that nepotism?” Natsuo jokes.

“Us Best Jeanist haters have to stick together,” No Hands On Me replies, then summons his dragon mount. “Come on, let me introduce you to them.”

Well, Natsuo isn’t going to say no to flying on a cool black and white dragon, so he goes off with No Hands On Me, and meets the Love Now With an E guild, and they’re actually pretty cool! A little crazy maybe, but no weirder than Izuku really.

“What’s with the name? Doesn’t quite seem your style,” Natsuo asks at some point.

No Hands On Me doesn’t say anything, but the guild’s little vampire assassin, named FlowersAndKnives, giggles and says airily, “Oh, we all need a little love, don’t we? Especially our dear leader.”

“I can think of a few of our other friends who need your romance obsession more,” No Hands On Me grumps, shoving FlowersAndKnives towards their resident berserker.

“SpinSpin over there is fine,” FlowersAndKnives sniffs then turns back to Natsuo, somehow her vampire avatar’s eyes gleaming. “So, tell me Summer Breeze—are you single?”

“Uh—yeah,” Natsuo replies, also quickly dming No Hands On Me: i thought you said no one was going to creep on me?

No Hand On Me replies: yeah, this isnt FlowersAndKnives being creepy, this is her just being nosy. just ignore her ull b fine, just dont get drenched in blood

Natsuo: what??? oh because she’s a vampire and she’s super in character all the time???

No Hands On Me: something like that dont worry about it

And although Natsuo is wary, the guild seems—fine? Like they’ve all got their own quirks, and FlowersAndKnives has a weird twin obsession with true crime and romance that blends in bizarre ways, but they are really good at the guild quests, and for the most part, they’re a friendly bunch.

Even No Hands On Me, who is still sort of stand-offish at times, never fails to message him once a day, at first mainly about guild stuff, but later also about other games he is playing, and even occasionally about his own life.

No Hands On Me: i swear id rather go pick up more garbage out of the river than listen to another prohero lecture me

Summer Breeze: oh god who lectured you??? and about what, jaywalking???

No Hands On Me: something like that

No Hands On Me: like all hero commission heroes suck

Summer Breeze: i hear u

Summer Breeze: u didnt get reamed out by best jeanist did u?

No Hands On Me: god no id slap that man

Summer Breeze: slap the jeans right off of him?

No Hands On Me: u know it

No Hands On Me: oh right ure a deku fan right?

Summer Breeze: pretty sure we established that YOU are but go on

No Hands On Me: not a FAN

No Hands On Me: but anyway SpinSpin has some extra autographed merch of him if u want any

No Hands On Me: theres a fan

No Hands On Me: and some branded coffee beans?

Summer Breeze: ooooo got to get my caffeine fix

No Hands On Me: one day your caffeine addiction is going to be your downfall

Summer Breeze: hey i have a stressful job with long hours!

Summer Breeze: without caffeine id have to quit ☹

No Hands On Me: thats really on ur job

Summer Breeze: it’s a rewarding job!

Summer Breeze: i help a lot of ppl!

Summer Breeze: i think

No Hands On Me: im sure u do

No Hands On Me: ur hours sound crazy though

Summer Breeze: oh yeah theyre insane

Summer Breeze: hopefully my schedule will get better soon

Summer Breeze: and then I can properly join u guys for the halloween event!

No Hands On Me: yeah that would be nice

Summer Breeze: besides u dont get to talk about crazy hrs

Summer Breeze: i feel like youre always online!

Summer Breeze: no matter what time i login!

No Hands On Me: i make my own hrs

Summer Breeze: oh nice

Summer Breeze: still at some point u do need to sleep

No Hands On Me: i do sleep

Summer Breeze: :doubtful frog

No Hands On Me: i definitely do

Summer Breeze: suuuuuure

No Hands On Me: anyway i also have a shouto night light

No Hands On Me: u mentioned before that u liked him too, right?

Summer Breeze: aw thanks!

Summer Breeze: u really didnt have to!

No Hands On Me: i just have a lot of extras

No Hands On Me: dm me a 7/11 shop or something, and ill ship it there

Natsu already has so much Shouto merch, and a decent amount of Deku merch as well, but he’s not going to turn down a gift from No Hands On Me!

It’s truly sweet of him—

He should send him something too!

He can ask Shouto to get exclusive Deku merch and then send it over to No Hands On Me, he’s sure that he’ll love it!

And so he gets some Deku hoodies and Deku towels from Shouto, and ships it over to the same 7/11 store that No Hands On Me had sent him his merch.

He’s happily admiring the Shouto night light that he got (they were probably going for a heroic vibe, but Natsu gets a kick out of how dopey Shouto’s hair looks when it’s all lit up), when Izuku stops by his apartment to drop off some of Shouto’s stuff.

“Thanks for letting me come by—I’d just drop it off at his apartment, but it’s on the other side of the city, and he said he was going to stop by here soon, anyway—”

“No problem at all!” Natsuo says with a wave of his hand before slyly grinning at Izuku. “The two of you should just move in together—make it official and everything!”

Izuku turns as red as a tomato. “I—I have no idea what you’re talking about—”

“You guys aren’t still trying to keep it a secret, are you?” Natsuo asks worriedly, leaning forward. “I mean, I get that fanbases can be way too intense, but after all, we all count as family, and let me tell you how hyped Fuyumi is going to be when you finally announce it to her—she may get Touya to bake a cake and everything.”

“We’re not—it’s not like that—I would be so lucky, but Shoutoissoniceandhandsomeanddeservessomeoneamazingjustlikehim…” Izuku trails off, twiddling his fingers together.

(Oh wow, they actually aren’t together yet.

Man, he’s going to lose money to Touya.

But it’s not that surprising, he guesses—Izuku is a nervous kid, and Shouto has barely had any good romantic examples growing up.

In fact, his closest example really might be Touya and Hawks, which—

Well, unlike Fuyumi, Natsu thinks it’s honestly the best thing that could have happened to either of them, and Shouto could probably do with worse examples—look at their parents—but it is rather a dramatic relationship for Shouto to follow after.

Maybe he’ll hint at Shouto some more and stop embarrassing poor Izuku.

He still can’t wait for Endeavor’s expression when Shouto and Izuku really do start dating.

Not only will it be confirmation that every single one of his children are queer, but his prized successor was actually shacking up with All Might’s hand-picked protegee!

The irony is so delicious and he may even visit the old man just so he can get a photo of the occasion.)

“Shouto would be very lucky to have you as well,” Natsuo says firmly.

Izuku glances at him, then at his computer. Seeing the NCH loading screen with its falling leaves, willowy trees, and lakes, he smiles.

“I heard from Shouto that you’re really enjoying the game!” Izuku beams at him. “I’m glad you’re having fun—it’s one of the more immersive games with, I feel like, a very well-developed world and tons of cool character classes! I’m just sorry I didn’t have a chance to guide you around myself—Shouto said you joined a guild?”

“Yeah, Love With An E,” Natsuo replies. “It’s been fun!”

Izuku furrows his brow, a strange expression flitting across his face. “…Love With An E?”

“Yeah, it’s a weird name—they still haven’t told me exactly what it means, but they’ve all been pretty nice.” Natsuo grins. “Especially their guild leader—No Hands On Me is grumpy, but they were the one who brought me in in the first place, and I think we’ve become pretty good friends!”

“O—oh?” Izuku for some reason is now just staring at the tea in his hands. “Um—that’s great! You—so you guys…talk about…the game?”

“Yeah, that and other stuff. He actually has a lot of interesting opinions on pro-heroes—and he’s kind of your fan, even if he won’t admit it,” Natsuo laughs.

Izuku blinks and opens and closes his mouth a few times before covering his mouth with his hand and mumbling something to himself. Since Shouto mentioned before that Izuku likes to do this, Natsuo just waits it out patiently, until Izuku finally says weakly, “…glad—glad to meet a fan? Um—and glad that you made a friend.”

Natsuo narrows his eyes, looking at Izuku. “…do you know him or something?”

“OfcoursenothowwouldIknowhimdefinitelynotohlookatthetimegottogonow!” Izuku babbles, standing up, gulping down the tea, and then frantically tearing out of Natsuo’s apartment as though he has to catch someone from a burning building or something.

(…Maybe they’ve met on the server before?

Makes sense—Izuku’s account seems pretty good, and he’s probably run into No Hands On Me at least once before.

Maybe even fought given this weirdo reaction.

Which makes it all the funnier how No Hands On Me is a big fan of Deku hahaha.)

Natsuo stretches, cracking his fingers by interlacing them in front of himself, before logging into the game.

“Hey, long time no see!” KnivesAndFlowers greets him, flitting forward on tiny bat wings.

“Sorry, work was pretty busy,” Natsuo says apologetically, sending his fox fairy off to do her daily tasks. “Thanks for taking care of my dailies while I was gone though!”

“Of course! Like our great leader would let your account fall to the wayside,” KnivesAndFlowers smiles, her vampire fangs poking out. “He really missed you~”

“He won’t like you gossiping about him,” SpinSpin warns her, also appearing. “Oh good, now we can do the imperial dragon quest!”

“Oooooh, is there a dragon hoard?” Natsuo asks eagerly.

“Yes, and it’s in an underwater palace,” No Hands On Me replies. “You love water-based quests, right?”

“I mean, the water animation is always really pretty,” Natsuo shrugs.

“They really did put a lot of work into that part,” No Hands On Me says, before adding, “Still, I think it’s your weird swimmer jock tendencies kicking in.”

“Swimming is such a good work-out,” Natsuo says fervently. “It’s truly the best full-body workout for your health, and you can do all kinds of cardio in the water without impacting your joints at all—the only problem is getting access to a pool.”

“Wow Breezy, your workout schedule must be intense,” FlowersAndKnives comments, poking his avatar. “Would have expected your avatar to be beefier!”

“Fairy Fox Caves only come in these models sadly,” Natsuo says mournfully, making his avatar’s tails wave around. “But at least the tails are fluffy!”

“They are indeed,” No Hands On Me says, something like a smile in his voice. “Channel all that jock energy into the quest instead.”

And they manage pretty well in the imperial dragon quest, even if there are a few close shaves, and they all only have a sliver of health left when the dragon emperor finally collapses and dissolves into a shower of bubbles.

“Yay!” FlowersAndKnives twirls around and immediately starts heading towards the gleaming vault. “I hope there’s some knives in there!”

“Or swords!” SpinSpin says, following after her.

Natsuo lets out a breath, stretching in his chair. “Whew—maybe you guys should bring in a dedicated healer? I’m okay, and I think I’m getting better, but Fairy Fox Caves just don’t have the heals that Mount Putuos have—”

“Mount Putous can’t seal, and I like playing with you,” No Hands On Me says stoutly, gesturing for him to follow. “Come on, or else they’re going to take everything good.”

Natsuo has a warm feeling in his chest at that as he follows his team members in to sort through the loot.

(Who knew gaming could give you almost the same camaraderie as volleyball?

Way worse for his health though—his wrists have never hurt as much as they have lately.

Time for all those stretches he advises digital artists and programmers to do!

Oh, he should also forward an article on that to No Hands On Me—when is that guy not online? His wrists must be killing him.)

The days pass, and before Natsuo knows it, he’s already been in the guild for nearly five months now, and it’s already Valentine’s Day, complete with a Valentine Day event on the server, full of prizes, event exclusive outfits, and couples marrying online left and right.

Most of their guild members have run off to either do festival events or celebrate in real life, but Natsuo is single right now (residency is hell on most relationships), and No Hands On Me apparently also doesn’t have anything to do, so they’re just chatting while farming chocolates in the game.

(It’s actually pretty nice and peaceful—Natsu doesn’t think he’s missing out at all on anything.)

“Did you get any chocolates in real life?” Natsuo asks.

No Hands On Me snorts. “I got one or two boxes. Let me guess—you got enough that you had to haul them around with a whole giant bag.”

“It was just a small bag,” Natsuo says modestly. “And it’s mostly because of my job.”

“Sure,” No Hands On Me laughs. “I feel like it’s more than that, but anyway—are you going to be bankrupt on White Day?”

“Most of those were just friend chocolates, and the ones that weren’t, I’ve already politely refused,” Natsuo explains.

“Didn’t like the flavor or just not looking for anything serious right now?” No Hands On Me asks curiously.

“I like all flavors of chocolate! Except matcha, it’s a little too bitter for me,” Natsuo explains. “And—well, it’s true that I don’t really have time for dating right now, but also—kind of want a spark, you know? Someone who gets me.”

(It’s a lot to explain, the forgotten son of Endeavor thing.

He’s been on dates, and they go well, but when that part ultimately comes up, people react in weird ways.

The Endeavor fans are pretty bad, but the ones who try to act overly normal about it are also kind of uncomfortable in another way.

He’s still friends with most of them—he wouldn’t go out with someone he couldn’t be friends with later, but it’s still awkward.

What he really wants is—someone he can just talk to honestly. Who just understands his situation, or at least is willing to listen to him about it, and who he’s attracted to.)

“Kind of a romantic then,” No Hands On Me jeers, but his voice is uncharacteristically soft.

“A bit, yeah.” Natsuo laughs. “What about you? Looking for that special someone?”

No Hands On Me pauses for a bit before saying slowly, “That would be—kind of difficult.”

“I don’t see why—you’re a top guild leader and NCH’s marriage system looks fun!” Natsuo teases, “And as for if you’re looking for someone in real life, I’m sure your sparkling wit carries through.”

No Hands On Me snorts. “You wouldn’t look at me twice in real life.”

“Oh come on, you don’t know that!” Natsuo exclaims.

“Uh yeah, I definitely do,” No Hands On Me replies. “You talk about swimming and volleyball a lot, so you’re probably a jock, and I am decidedly not.”

“You think I only like fellow jocks?” Natsuo asks incredulously, “I get along with all of you in the guild, and you’re all pretty much nerds—and I like nerds too!”

No Hands On Me is quiet, and Natsuo rewinds what he just said.

(Uh—

That kind of sounded like he was hitting on him, right?

Which—

Isn’t really a bad thing?

Except that No Hands On Me thinks he’s a girl, so that’s kind of a different problem right there.

…maybe he should just confess to that right now?

But then what if No Hands On Me never wants to talk to him again?

And he only knows him in the game, so if No Hands On Me blocks him here, he won’t be able to find him again.

…would it be too manipulative to make him meet him in person first?

Oh because that would go so much better, No Hands On Me would probably punch him.)

“…maybe so, but I’m not a good person,” No Hands On Me suddenly said, “You wouldn’t like me in real life.”

“I mean, I already know you’re kind of an asshole, and I like you just fine right now?” Natsuo points out, rubbing the back of his neck.

No Hands On Me huffs out a breath. “Wow, okay, I’m pouring my heart out to you, but you’re calling me an asshole—”

“Hey, the first thing you ever said to me was ‘Don’t try to play the hero if you’re so weak,’” Natsuo protests.

“You were trying to take on a team of five people with your piddly Level 5 weapons,” No Hands On Me retorts.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you saved me,” Natsuo laughs and then says in a breathy voice, “My hero.”

“Ugh, stop it, you sound gross,” No Hands On Me sputters before his voice grows serious again. “You really wouldn’t say that if you knew—I’ve done bad things before. I’ve hurt people.”

Natsuo goes silent for a bit too. “…Do you regret it?”

(The thing that always hurt most for him—and he thinks for Touya too—is that Endeavor may ask them for forgiveness, but not once does he actually regret what he has done.

He’d do it all over again if it really would bring him the #1 Pro-Hero position, not because All Might just retired on his own, but if he could have truly bested All Might after all that.

How can he forgive that?

In the end, he doesn’t think even Fuyumi really forgives him in her heart of hearts—and Shouto, who knows.

He still can’t read his youngest brother all that well, and he blames Endeavor for all of that as well.)

“Yeah,” No Hands On Me says. “Some of it I thought was justified at the time, but—well, it turns out I wasn’t quite fighting for what I thought. And—someone helped me see a different viewpoint.”

Natsuo hums, leaning back in his chair.

(It’s all very vague—like what, had No Hands On Me been in a gang or something?

Shit, what if he was one of those villain minions?

Still, it sounded like he had turned over a new leaf?

And maybe this was as dumb as wanting to give Endeavor a second chance, but—

No Hands On Me doesn’t need anything from him.

No Hands On Me may not even want to meet him.)

“I’m glad someone did that for you,” Natsuo says gently. “And—you’re trying, right? I don’t think that’s something a completely bad person would do—if you could go back and change it, would you?”

No Hands On Me lets out a tired laugh. “How far back? If I could go all the way back to the start—yeah, I’d change things. And even in the middle—it’d be hard, but I think I would try. I didn’t—well, I knew what I had become, but it all seemed to make sense at the time. All the way until it didn’t. But if I knew then—yeah, I’d try to put a stop to it.”

“Then even if you’re sometimes an asshole, I don’t think you’re a completely bad person,” Natsuo says. “And I think we’d get along really well in real life!”

No Hands On Me is silent again for a while, before saying in a small voice, “Well—I’d like that.”

(Success!

Now, he couldn’t mention a real life meeting now—that’d probably scare him off.

But they could maybe slowly work their way up to it!)

“And then you could finally drag me to see that mecha series you love so much!” Natsuo continues.

“I still can’t believe you haven’t seen it— none of the Gundam series?” No Hands On Me asks incredulously. “It’s an anime classic!”

Natsuo shrugs. “Didn’t watch all that much anime as a kid.”

“We have to rectify this,” No Hands On Me mutters under his breath.

Natsuo feels the grin on his face widen as he murmurs, “I’ll hold you to that.”

“I’ll start making a list,” No Hands On Me grouses. “Anyway—that’s a whole pile of chocolates, I guess we have enough to go exchange for the grand prize now.”

“At last, you get me a ring!” Natsuo jokes, having his avatar lightly shove No Hands On Me.

No Hands On Me pauses before moving again. “You—you desperately need the speed boost. Let’s go before the timer runs out!”

“Sure, sure,” Natsuo says agreeably following after him.

(No Hands On Me doesn’t seem completely opposed to the light flirting—

Maybe because he thinks Summer Breeze is a girl.

…there has to be a way to hint around and see if No Hands On Me is bi or something, right?

At the same time though, it’s not like he really knows who No Hands On Me is either—he could be a forty-something divorced guy for all Natsu knows.

Nah, No Hands On Me definitely doesn’t game and talk like a forty year-old would, he’s pretty sure.

And no matter who No Hands On Me is, it can’t be as shocking as when he finds out that Summer Breeze is in fact the very male Todoroki Natsuo.

Well, at least it’ll give further context for the Endeavor hate, right?

He’ll just—gradually put out feelers and see how it goes.)

--

Dropping hints about BL dramas and manga just earned him some blank stares from No Hands On Me (although KnivesAndFlowers had promptly sent him a list of her top romantic dramas to watch—there were far too many serial killer documentaries mixed in, weirdly), mentioning an upcoming Pride parade just makes No Hands On Me comment that it’s way too noisy, and talking about the push to end discrimination among adoption agencies in regards to gay couples, just has No Hands On Me snorting.

“They should worry about a lot of other things,” he says dismissively, “Like actually checking if any potential parents are going to be good parents.”

“True, but I thought adoption agencies generally are pretty strict about that?” Natsuo asks.

“You never know,” No Hands On Me says darkly.

“But as long as they’re good parents, it shouldn’t matter what gender they are, right?” Natsuo continues.

“Of course it shouldn’t,” No Hands On Me replies, “Anyway, come on, the Rainbow Bridge is about to close in like five minutes if we don’t hurry up.”

“Let’s ride your mount!” Natsuo suggests.

No Hands On Me grouses a bit, but still ends up summoning his dragon mount. Natsuo happily moves his avatar onto it and enjoys the scenery of the billowing clouds, sunset, and shining rainbow bridge.

“Kind of romantic, don’t you think?” he asks slyly.

“…maybe,” No Hands On Me admits, before slowly saying, “So um—I have tickets to a techno show.”

“Cool,” Natsuo says promptly. “You’ll need to send me a sample of their stuff!”

“…sure, yeah, but um—well, I have an extra ticket? SpinSpin bailed on me—we know each other in real life. And uh—I know we don’t, but you do seem to live in the same city as me, so—so maybe—if you wanted to come—I mean, it may not be your thing, but I think it could be fun…and I need to warn you of a few things too, if you’re going to come…”

(Oh wow, this is kind of like a date, right?

Progress!

Real progress!

…except he was an idiot who still hadn’t told him the most important part of his identity…

He should do that right now.

Just get that out of the way now, and if No Hands On Me never wants to talk to him again after that—

Well, he’d just have to deal with that then.)

“Yeah, that sounds really fun! Um, let me check my schedule, and then I need to tell you something—”

“Hey, why don’t you have anything in your fridge that isn’t premade sushi?” Touya demands, walking into his room without knocking.

Natsuo startles, then quickly mutes his mic and types “brb” while turning around. “Uh, because sushi is the best?”

Touya pulls a face, shaking his head. “I don’t know what is worse—Shouto loving cold soba so much, or your obsession with sushi. I’m going to make chicken katsu, you want any?”

“Will Hawks-bro leave any undevoured?” Natsuo jokes, standing up.

Touya sighs. “One day, he’s going to have to change his name to Chicken. …wait, are you gaming?”

“Oh yeah, it’s this game called Nine Chivalrous Heroes—it’s pretty fun!” Natsuo says, pushing his chair back to show Touya the screen. “I’m playing a female Fox Fairy Cave because their tails are so much fluffier than the male model!”

Touya narrows his eyes as he looks from Natsuo’s avatar to No Hands On Me on the dragon, and his eyes widen slightly. “…say the name of the game again?”

“Nine Chivalrous Heroes?” Natsuo repeats with his brow furrowed. “It’s not like pro-heroes, it’s more of a fantasy type setting—”

“Yeah, I get that, but why are you hanging out with him ,” Touya says, pointing directly to No Hands On Me on the screen.

Natsuo’s eyebrows fly up. “What, you know him? Touya, you never told me you also played the game! You should come play with me—No Hands On Me is kind of an asshole, but he’s nice enough once you get to know him—”

Touya is staring at Natsuo as though he has grown a second head, and he interrupts to say, “I don’t play this game, but I’ve definitely seen Shigaraki playing it before, and that’s his account.”

(…what.

What?

No, no way—

What the fuck ?

The leader of the League of Villains—the guy who had nearly tried to end the world—is No Hands On Me who frequently lambasts him about never having played any other video games and personally put together a beginner friendly gaming guide for him???

The guy who had listened to him rant late into the night about the hypocrisy of the Hero Commission, who let him ride his dragon mount pretty much whenever, who patiently if grumpily has helped him improve his game-play, and who he had even been flirting with and angling to meet in real life—

Is Shigaraki Tenko? )

“You—that can’t be right,” Natsuo stammers, “No Hands On Me is—yeah, he’s abrasive sometimes, but he’s a really good listener, and he’s sweet—he listens to songs I send him, and the anime he recs are actually really good—”

Touya’s expression is just growing more horrified. “ You’re the girl that Toga’s been teasing him about this entire time?”

“Toga—Toga Himiko? Oh god, is she in this guild too?” Natsuo swivels around to stare at the screen. “…she had a blood quirk didn’t she? And ran around with a knife? Is she FlowersAndKnives?”

“Most likely, that’s not the point,” Touya snaps, crossing his arms. “Shigaraki has been hitting on my little brother —I’m going to have to punch him next time I see him.”

“You can’t punch anyone, your arm would probably snap off,” Natsuo can’t help but reply even while in shock.

Touya grinds his teeth. “Then I’ll get Hawks to punch him for me!”

“Who am I punching, hot stuff?” Hawks asks, coming in as well and handing a beer over to Natsuo. “Hey Natsu.”

“Hey, Hawks-bro—and no one is punching anyone!” Natsuo takes the beer and glares at Touya. “You’re just completely misunderstanding the situation—”

“I’m misunderstanding the situation?” Touya repeats, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve got Toga continuously texting me about how Shigaraki has a crush on some fox girl, Shigaraki bizarrely asking me which coffee shops are ‘cool but warm,’ whatever that means, and now you telling me that Shigaraki is sweet. ”

Hawks’ golden eyes flick from Natsuo to Touya to the computer screen and then back again. “…dude,” he breathes, wide-eyed. “Are you catfishing Shigaraki ?”

“No!” Natsuo yells, grabbing his own hair. “I’m just—I played a female character because the tails are fluffier! And then I added a voice changer because it fit her character better! And then I ran into No Hands On Me, and—and he was really nice to me! Kind of a jerk at first, but he listens a lot, and he helped me on a quest, and then he asked me to join his guild, and things—things just kind of escalated from there…”

Hawks and Touya exchange looks while Hawks covers his mouth and his wings shift around him. “…but during that entire time, you never told him that you weren’t a girl?”

“I thought it would make things awkward!” Natsuo tries to explain, “It’s not something I could really mention in the beginning, and then later when we became friends—well, I’m still trying to figure out how to say in a non-awkward way, ‘hey, thanks for inviting me to that techno concert, but just to let you know, I’m a guy.’”

“He invited you to a techno concert?” Touya demands, his eyes narrowing even more. “As what? As a date?”

Natsuo shifts uneasily in his seat. “I mean—I don’t know—maybe? I—I hadn’t gotten that far yet—”

“Do you want it to be a date?” Touya asks, a horrified expression on his face.

“I—”

(Definitely before, yes.

Now?

Now he’s—

So confused.

He thought he knew who Shigaraki Tenko was—after all, his defeat and slow rehabilitation had paralleled Touya’s own, but he had never trusted him.

Hard to when he had seen him nearly level the entire city after all.

And fine—it wasn’t all him, it was All For One pulling the strings and using him—oh god the No Hands On Me username was a pun wasn’t it—but it’s hard to forget him as the cause of all that death and destruction no matter what his name was.

But—

Some people would say the same thing about Touya.

And he knows that most of the League went through horrific childhoods to turn out the way they did, and online at least, he had really liked No Hands On Me—Shigaraki—whatever he was calling himself now.

If—

If he had told No Hands On Me that he was a guy, and No Hands On Me had been cool with it, and then he turned up at that concert and seen Shigaraki Tenko there—how would he have reacted then?

Probably a lot like now, to be honest.

But, wait—it sounded like No Hands On Me had kind of wanted to warn him too, so it wasn’t like he would have walked in with zero idea presumably.

Which implies that—

Shigaraki Tenko had not been playing around here either.

What’s he supposed to do with that?)

“…the fact that you can’t give me an answer worries me,” Touya says flatly.

“I think no answer is an answer in itself, right?” Hawks says cheerfully, patting Natsuo on the back. “Must be true love if you still want to go to a techno concert with him!”

“My little brother cannot be in love with Shigaraki,” Touya says in a sharp voice, turning back to Natsuo and saying urgently, “One time, I saw Shigaraki not shower for an entire week. He was just in a smelly hoodie the entire time, wallowing in his stank.”

“I mean, that’s depression behavior?” Natsuo points out. “And I’ve heard that the place you guys were stuck in before you took over the MLA was pretty terrible and dirty as well—”

“ I shower whenever I can, or else I’d get infected,” Touya points out, gesturing at his burn scars. “And that’s not the point—I thought you hated him?”

“Well, I thought you hated Hawks-bro for a while too,” Natsuo points out mulishly.

“The attempted murder would be a big red flag, but at least he managed to stop me before I did anything I would really regret in the long run,” Hawks says cheerfully. “But anyway, beyond Natsu’s feelings, I still think one of the bigger problems here is that Shigaraki thinks he’s a girl.”

“ That’s the bigger problem?” Touya asks incredulously. “Not my little brother here wanting to date the former leader of the League of Villains?”

“As someone who fell hard for one of the most prominent League of Villains members, I can’t really cast judgment there,” Hawks says apologetically, fluttering his eyelashes ridiculously at Dabi while touching his arm.

Dabi sighs but doesn’t move away from his touch. “…fine. Okay,” he turns back to Natsuo. “…do you really like him?”

“I—” Natsuo flushes and rubs his face. “…I want to try.”

Touya lets out a slightly strangled sound, while Hawks just grins and claps Natsuo on the back. “Okay! First step I think is still to deal with the whole ‘I’m actually a guy.’ Probably best to do that online, just in case—I know he’s trying to reform and all, but let’s not tempt him into dusting you, yeah?”

“Is that likely?” Natsuo glances over at Touya.

Touya just stares straight ahead. “Oh no—if this keeps going, am I going to be related to Shigaraki at the end of this?”

“Only if you can finally answer this for me—is Shigaraki straight?” Natsuo demands.

“Was a little too busy trying to bring down all of society to ask Shigaraki in great detail what kind of person he’s attracted to,” Touya says in acid tones.

Hawks rolls his eyes. “What he means is that he was too busy brooding in the corner over his revenge plot to care about anyone else. I feel like Shigaraki’s probably not—and I mean, his caretaker is going out with a man now, right? Or two men? So, he can’t be that homophobic?”

“There’s still a difference between someone close to you being gay and you yourself being gay,” Natsuo points out. “And again—is getting dusted really a possibility here?”

“No, because Shigaraki knows I’d burn him to a crisp if he tried,” Touya spits out, a dangerous look in his eyes. “But if you’re really worried about it, then you definitely shouldn’t go out with him—”

“How likely is it, really, Touya,” Natsuo interrupts. “No bullshit.”

Touya looks as though he’s swallowed a lemon, but he slowly grinds out. “…he won’t dust you. He might dust his own computer in shock though, and I’d pay good money to see that.”

“You are so mean,” Natsuo informs him, turning back to the screen to see No Hands On Me’s avatar just quietly doing its idle animation of looking through its bag.

Touya shrugs. “I nearly burnt myself to a crisp helping this guy, I’m allowed to be as mean as I want to him.”

“You definitely were mostly doing it for your own goals, babe,” Hawks calls out.

“It helped,” Touya insists. “Just like recruiting you ultimately helped.”

“And also got you laid, but anyway, I think Natsu could use some time without us hanging over his shoulders,” Hawks says amiably, pushing and corralling Touya out the door using both his wings and superior upper body strength. “Good luck, Natsu!”

“If he’s an asshole about it, let me know, and I’ll go beat him up,” Touya calls out before Hawks finally manages to pull him out of the room and shut the door with a wave.

Natsuo scrubs his hands through his hair and takes a deep breath before swiveling back towards the computer.

(Okay.

He can do this.

He can just—he’ll do what he planned before, telling him that he’s actually a guy.

And then from there—

Well, if he reacts poorly, that’s easy, if a very depressing scenario for him.

If he reacts fine—

Should he say who he is?

Or should he reveal that he knows who No Hands On Me is in real life?

Both are potentially awkward in different ways—

Fuck it, he’ll play it by ear.

First things, first.)

He decisively presses the unmute button and then says, “Hey, sorry about that, that was just my big brother.”

“…the edgelord brother?” No Hands On Me asks, his voice slightly strange.

“Yeah—he’s a total pain and an edgelord, but he is a fantastic cook!” Natsuo laughs.

 “…uh huh,” No Hands On Me lets out, but he doesn’t entirely sound like he’s paying attention.

(Probably was gone too long what with all the freaking out.

Well, it’s okay—

It’s now or nothing.)

“So, um—about the concert—I think there’s something you should know first about me—”

“Yeah, hang on,” No Hands On Me’s voice sounds a bit distant, and there’s some rustling noises. “I’m—something came up. I’ll go handle that, and then—and then we’ll talk about it?”

“Uh—yeah, sure thing!” Natsuo says, a little thrown for a loop. “Um—soon?”

“Yeah,” No Hands On Me says in a muffled voice. “I’ll—I’ll let you know.”

“…Is something wrong?” Natsuo can’t help but ask.

“Don’t know yet,” No Hands On Me replies. “Still—thanks. I—I think it’ll be fun. I just have to—figure some stuff out first.”

(Well, doesn’t that sound ominous.

…how much had No Hands On Me heard?

Probably only Touya’s voice at the beginning at most, right?

He double checked the mic, it was definitely off the rest of the time.

And Touya’s voice through a mic—he couldn’t recognize that, right?

Even if it sounded familiar, he probably wouldn’t make the connection—what would tie Summer Breeze to Dabi?

Maybe it was just something with logistics—or maybe it had just hit him about how he was supposed to introduce himself as the Shigaraki Tenko.

…He’ll give him some space and then bug him in a day or two if he doesn’t say anything by then.)

--

“Waiting on a package or about to get a date?” Fuyumi asks, raising an eyebrow.

Natsuo blanches and glances up from his phone. “What—”

“You keep staring at your phone,” Fuyumi points out, nodding at his cellphone. “So what’s going on? Ohhh, did you invite someone to our family meal? It’s a pity that Mother is out with Mr. Compress tonight then if it’s that serious—”

“Nothing like that, I just—just waiting for—don’t you have Izuku to fawn over?” Natsuo quickly stuffs his phone back into his pocket.

“My other little brother is acting suspicious, of course I have attention to spare,” Fuyumi laughs, jokingly grabbing at his phone. “So? Spill, if there’s an extra person coming, then I need to order some more takeout stat.”

“No one’s coming, I didn’t invite anyone,” Natsuo mumbles, his fingers itching to unlock his phone again.

(It’s only been a day, calm down Natsu.

Why are you so excited anyway—whenever he messages or calls you back, you’re going to have to fess up anyway.

And plus—

Dating the former League of Villains leader was a lot, wasn’t it?

But not if he just thinks of it as No Hands On Me…

Besides, No Hands On Me already said he regretted everything that he had done so—so probably that redemption over there really is taking?

Oh, he should ask Izuku about him—

Izuku is pretty close to him.

Wait, now No Hands On Me’s Deku obsession makes so much more sense—

And actually now that he thinks about it some more, how does Izuku not know who No Hands On Me is?

Oh god, he probably did know and just—didn’t know how to tell Natsu.

Thank god for Touya and completely not giving a fuck about approaching things delicately, he guesses.

But still, what is Shigaraki over there waiting for exactly?)

The doorbell rings, shaking Natsuo out of his thoughts. “Oh—guess that’s Touya, I’ll go get that!” he says, slipping away from Fuyumi’s inquisition.

“As if Touya couldn’t let himself in!” Fuyumi calls out. “Since Hawks couldn’t make it, tell him that he better not have brought chicken katsu again. ”

Natsuo hurries over, opening the door and calling over his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, no worries, just make sure you have enough hot soba for Touya—”

Natsuo freezes as the door opens to reveal a scowling Touya and a blank-faced Shigaraki Tomura standing next to him.

(Shit.

Fuck.

Had he somehow found out?

Had Touya told him?!

No, no, hang on, that doesn’t make any sense.

Touya definitely wouldn’t have told him—even the chance of kicking Endeavor in the nuts may not be enough to convince Touya to potentially let Shigaraki date his little brother.

Then—

Had Shigaraki figured it out on his own?)

“Hey,” Shigaraki greets him, then cranes his head around his shoulder. “Thanks for having me. …are the rest of your siblings here too?”

“…Yes?” Natsuo squeaks out, his hand clenched around the doorknob.

“Great,” Shigaraki says simply, “Can I come in?”

Natsuo wordlessly steps aside to let him in, and Shigaraki passes him without even giving him a second look.

(…okay, so he hadn’t figured it out.

But still.

What the hell was going on?)

“What is he doing here?” Natsuo hisses frantically at Touya.

Touya glares back at him. “How am I supposed to know? He suddenly started asking about the Todoroki family dinner, and he really wanted to go—and then he spouted some bullshit about Izuku inviting him—I mean it sounded sort of plausible, that is the kind of thing that All-Might fanboy might do—”

“Izuku is such a polite boy, how could he invite someone else to our family dinner?” Natsuo demands, hearing a slight edge of hysteria in his voice.

Touya shrugs. “Or Shigaraki badgered him into it. That sounds more likely, actually. And then he just followed me here.”

“You couldn’t have lost him?”

Touya gives him a flat stare. “He has our address.”

“ Shit,” Natsuo says with feeling, glancing back at Shigaraki who is greeting a confused looking Izuku and Shouto. “Okay—you’re sure he hasn’t figured it out?”

Touya gives him a flat look. “If he has, he’s sure doing the shittiest job I’ve seen of paying attention to you. Having second thoughts?”

“I’m not—I just need to know what is going on here,” Natsuo says through gritted teeth.

“What are you two whispering about?” Fuyumi asks, walking over and glancing at Shigaraki. “Oh—Touya, how come you didn’t tell me you were bringing a friend over?”

“Izuku invited me,” Shigaraki suddenly breaks in, scratching at his neck. “I—I wanted to drop by. Hope it’s not—too much trouble.”

“It’s fine, depending on how much food Touya brought,” Fuyumi says, hip-checking Touya. “If there’s not enough, we can always order some takeout.”

“Always mooching off of my cooking,” Touya mutters, walking over to the kitchen and untying the plastic bag that he had carried Tupperware containers in.

“Well, we missed years of it, and so now you have to make it up to us,” Fuyumi says brightly, opening up the rice cooker to start spooning out the rice. “Natsu, get the plates.”

Natsuo numbly goes to get the plates while staring back at Shigaraki who is still hovering around the kitchen.

“Uh, so—long hours at the hospital, huh?” Shigaraki asks, turning to look at Fuyumi.

Fuyumi’s brow furrows as she pauses in spooning out the rice. “I think you have me confused with Natsu? He’s our med student here—I work at a preschool.”

“Oh, I could have sworn—sorry, I made some assumptions,” Shigaraki says awkwardly.

(Aw shit.

Fuck.

Oh no.

…does Shigaraki think that—

Fuck, he must have recognized Touya’s voice, and then with the voice changer—

Oh god, he thinks that Fuyumi is Summer Breeze!

Oh nooooooo.)

Fuyumi blinks then shrugs. “That’s fine. Can you help set the table since you’re here?”

“Sure!” Shigaraki immediately does his best to try and help set out all the plates.

Natsuo really isn’t sure what to do at this point, so he just ends up helping Shigaraki get the bowls down from the higher shelves. “Uh—so—so, you were curious about the Todoroki family dinner, huh? Izuku hype it up to you that much?”

“Something like that,” Shigaraki says, glancing over at Fuyumi. “I—well. I’ve known Dabi for a really long time. I may as well—get to know his family too?”

Touya shoots the most disbelieving look possible their way. “I don’t see you trying to get to know Spinner’s parents or any of Mr. Compress’ relatives.”

“That’s because Spinner’s parents barely pay attention to him, and Mr. Compress is too busy courting your guys’ mother,” Shigaraki shoots back, looking slightly more normal. “Everyone here is—nice.”

“Awww, does Izuku tell stories about us?” Fuyumi beams, reaching out to poke at Touya’s side. “I know it’s not Touya, because all he would do is complain about us eating his cooking. Or tell you terrible, embarrassing stories about us.”

Touya maintains eye-contact with Natsuo as he places the container of Agadashi Tofu into the microwave. “When Natsu was five, he ate a caterpillar.”

“You told me it was a piece of candy!” Natsuo complains, glancing over at Shigaraki to gauge his reaction (nonplussed—okay, that’s good then). “When Touya was like, ten, he tried to pierce his nose himself. It was horrible—I think Fuyumi cried, there was so much blood.”

(No need to discuss how this was yet another way that Touya had tried and failed to gain their father’s attention—they all know, and it’s better as a funny kid’s story anyway.

Fucking Endeavor—always hanging like a pall over all of their lives.

Even the thing about the caterpillar—he remembers running to their mother to complain, but their mother had been arguing with their father at the time, and he remembers getting just roughly pushed out of the room by Endeavor.

Unlike Touya, he had never gotten any attention from their father.

Probably for the best—you couldn’t really want what you never had in the first place.

Sort of.)

“I guess that must have been pretty traumatic?” Shigaraki asks, glancing over at Fuyumi. “I didn’t realize you were—are you scared of blood?”

“You know, back then, kind of, but these days, little kids get so many nosebleeds that it’s pretty routine,” Fuyumi shrugs, walking out of the kitchen.

“Still, that’s pretty great of you,” Shigaraki says seriously, following after her.

(This is so awkward.

He should definitely say something and put Shigaraki out of his misery.

….but that would embarrass him to find out the truth here in front of everyone, right?

For sure Fuyumi is going to lecture him, he’s not sure how Touya has so far restrained himself, and Shouto sitting over there on the couch looks politely puzzled.)

Touya’s eyes are narrowed to slits, but Izuku looks as though he’s about to burst, frantically glancing between Shigaraki, Fuyumi, and then Natsuo, as his eyes grow wider and wider, practically taking over his entire face.

“So, um—nice place,” Shigaraki says lamely. “It’s cozier than I expected—but I saw that it’s pretty close to the athletic center. Is that where you go swim?”

“Okay, now you’re definitely mixing me up with Natsu,” Fuyumi says, pointing at Natsuo. “He’s the big swimmer in our family—also likes volleyball far too much.”

Shigaraki blinks, his brow furrowing as his eyes dart towards Natsuo and then back to Fuyumi, looking completely bewildered at this moment. “You—don’t like swimming or volleyball?”

“No, that’s definitely Natsu,” Fuyumi replies patiently, turning to Touya. “What stories have you been telling him? Have you mixed up the two of us on purpose for some dastardly fun?”

“Believe me, I wish I had thought of that,” Touya says darkly.

Shigaraki narrows his eyes at Touya. “What is that supposed to mean—”

Izuku shoots to his feet, frantically babbling while tugging on Shouto’s arm. “Oh no! I just realized that—uh—there’s something—there’s something outside that everyone has to see right now. Everyone besides Shigaraki-kun and Natsuo-niisan!”

Shouto turns his puzzled look to Izuku. “Outside? What? And why don’t Shigaraki and Natsu have to see it?”

“Because it doesn’t concern them!” Izuku says, lightning actually flashing around him as he tugs Shouto over to the door and then starts pushing Touya and Fuyumi away as well.

“Why wouldn’t it concern us?” Shigaraki demands with a darkening expression, starting to look way more like the leader of the League of Villains than the awkward guy from before.

“Just—because!” Izuku says, trying to tug the door closed after him.

“I really don’t understand what is going on here,” Shouto says plaintively before the door shuts and Shigaraki and Natsuo are left alone together in Fuyumi’s apartment.

(…so Izuku truly deserves that #1 Hero rank, even if the entire Pro-Hero ranking system is bullshit.

And even if Natsu has no idea how the hell to salvage this now. )

Natsuo laughs awkwardly (god, he hopes that it doesn’t sound manic) as he rubs the back of his neck and says, “Um so—yeah, I’m the one who likes swimming and volleyball.”

“Really,” Shigaraki says flatly, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah, and—” Natsuo takes a big breath (it’s now or nothing). “And I’m the one who actually got into gaming recently too. I’m Summer Breeze.”

(There, it’s out there now.

…is he going to react at all?

Oh, this isn’t good.)

Shigaraki just seems frozen there, staring at him.

“I—it’s probably a shock,” Natsuo admits. “Sorry—I guess you were expecting someone like Fuyumi instead—”

“Was it funny?” Shigaraki asks in a monotone.

“What?”

“Pretending to be a girl and stringing me along—getting me to open up to you—was it funny?” Shigaraki demands, his expression hard and his hand scratching frantically at his own neck. “Did you and Dabi have a good laugh? Shit—was Midoriya also involved in this—”

“No! It wasn’t—it wasn’t some kind of joke or anything!” Natsuo interrupts frantically. “I—I chose a female avatar because female Fox Fairy Caves have fluffier tails. I know that sounds like a stupid reason—”

“I’ve never heard a dumber reason before,” Shigaraki interjects.

“But it’s the truth!” Natsuo insists. “And the voice-changer—well it’d be weird to have her use my voice, right? And then we became friends, and I really enjoyed talking to you—I’ve never told anyone half the stuff I confided in you, and I never told Touya or Izuku or anyone else any of the stuff you told me—and I—I really did like you.”

“…up until Dabi told you who I was?” Shigaraki asks tightly.

Natsuo winces. “…I can’t say that it wasn’t a shock, because it definitely was. But—but after thinking about it for a while—I mean, we got along pretty well online, right? And you said it before yourself—you did bad things before, but you’re trying hard to make up for it now, so—so that’s fine.”

Shigaraki blinks. “You really believe that?”

“Mostly because I got to know you as No Hands On Me first, but—yeah,” Natsuo says. “I really—I really want to go to that concert with you. I was trying to tell you that I was a guy, but you kind of cut me off before I could.”

“I was kind of trying to figure out how to tell you who I am,” Shigaraki mumbles, the scratching at his neck less intense now. “Especially when I heard Dabi, and thought you were—well—”

“My sister? Yeah—Fuyumi’s great, but she’s not much of a gamer. Also, if you still want to ask her out, I think I will cry,” Natsuo says half-jokingly. “Although—I mean, if you’re straight, I’m really sorry about all of this, and I hope we can still somehow manage to be friends—”

“I don’t care what gender you are,” Shigaraki says with a frown. “I really—I really liked you for you, not for your avatar, that would be dumb. I’m just—I’m still kind of pissed off at you, you know. You let me act like a complete fool in front of Dabi and your other siblings, and Dabi at the very least, is never going to let me live this down…”

“I’m sorry,” Natsuo says humbly. “If Touya makes fun of you, I can—tell you blackmail stories about him?”

Shigaraki perks up as he stops scratching his neck entirely. “Such as…?”

“I think I still have photos of the time we managed to dye his hair pink,” Natsuo says, taking his phone out and scrolling through old photos. “Stuck some hair dye in and—here we go!”

“Oh, this is perfect,” Shigaraki laughs sinisterly, staring at the photo Natsuo had snapped of Touya back when he was like eleven, sleeping with freshly dyed pink hair (and right before he woke up to try and kick Natsu’s ass). “Can you send me a copy?”

“Of course!” Natsuo says, hitting send with a flourish. “And—um—I’ll make it up to you however you want. I know what I did was pretty shitty, and—and I can’t apologize enough about it.”

Shigaraki stares at him awhile, playing with his cellphone, before finally saying, “…come to the concert with me.”

“Really?” Natsuo straightens up, his eyes shining.

“Yeah,” Shigaraki shrugs, staring at the floor, his cheeks just slightly flushed. “You—you’re not allowed to say anything bad about the band. Even if you hate techno—okay? It’s supposed to be a punishment anyway…”

“It feels way more like a reward,” Natsuo says honestly, reaching out and quickly stopping himself before his hand lands on Shigaraki’s hand.

Shigaraki stares at Natsuo’s hand before brushing the back of his hand briefly against Natsuo’s fingers. “It—if you want to think about it that way. Also—you need to give me more blackmail against Dabi. And if Toga and Spinner ask you what happened—they’re FlowersAndKnives and SpinSpin by the way—you just let them think that I knew the entire time.”

“Done,” Natsuo says easily. “I know I’ve got a video somewhere the first time Touya made a cake—”

“That was more embarrassing for you than anyone else because you’re the one who got diarrhea later from eating the raw batter,” Touya complains, shoving the door open with a bang again, Shouto trying ineffectually to tug him away, Fuyumi avidly watching the whole scene, and Izuku covering his eyes while also peeking through his hands.

“But you’re the one who got frosting in his hair, so I feel like that’s worse?” Natsuo argues, tapping through his phone.

“How in the world is that worse than diarrhea?” Touya demands.

Fuyumi taps her cheek. “Well—you got it in your eyes too, right? And you had to wash it out, and you kind of looked like a drowned rat at the end of it—so I feel like it’s more embarrassing.”

“As the person who dumped the whole bowl of icing onto my head to begin with, you don’t get a say in this,” Touya says, pointing at Fuyumi.

Shouto opens his mouth. “I think Natsu’s diarrhea is more embarrassing, but if it’s not on video, it can’t be compared to the icing thing, Touya-niisan.”

“You’re outnumbered, Touya,” Natsuo crows before finding the video and sending it off to Shigaraki.

Touya sneers, lifting his chin and glaring at Shigaraki. “Whether or not you have embarrassing childhood videos of me, you know what I’ll do to you if you hurt him, right Shigaraki?”

Shigaraki tightly nods, his eyes pinned on his cellphone. “…yes.”

“Hey, I’m the one who catfished him in the first place,” Natsuo interjects, “If anyone should be threatened here—”

“It’s still the former head of the League of Villains and the actual trained fighter of the two of you,” Touya says, crossing his arms. “I don’t approve, but like Keigo said—you’re an adult, and you need to make your own choices, so—fine, I guess. But just for the record, you could do so much better.”

“That’s just your opinion,” Natsuo says steadily, also crossing his arms.

Fuyumi pats Touya’s shoulder and then Natsuo’s. “I’m not going to say this isn’t a surprise, because Touya only told me the bare outline of what is going on, but—I’m glad you found someone, Natsu! On the other hand—Shigaraki. Touya may be the scariest one out of all of us, but make no mistake, if you hurt my little brother, I will also do my best to make life very hard for you indeed.”

“Me too,” Shouto pipes up, also narrowing his eyes at Shigaraki.

Shigaraki just looks at all of them with a bored expression. “If you’re done trying to intimidate me, and since I’ve got no one to speak on my behalf—”

Izuku clears his throat and looks at Natsuo. “Natsu-niisan—you’re a great guy. And I think you and Tenko-kun will be very happy together—that’s why I didn’t say anything until now—alsoIdidn’tknowwhattoevensay—but—but if you hurt Tenko-kun, you will have to answer to me.”

Natsuo looks at Izuku’s serious expression, and nods. “Understood.”

“What are you doing ?” Shigaraki hisses at Izuku, rubbing at his forehead.

Izuku squeaks, then shuffles in place. “Uh—well, you said that you have no one to speak on your behalf, so I just thought—”

“Who needs you to do that?” Shigaraki demands, crossing his arms. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“But it’s still nice to have people who care about you, right?” Natsuo points out quickly as Shouto narrows his eyes.

Shigaraki pulls a face. “Do you have to phrase it in such an embarrassing way?”

“True embarrassment would be me pulling out all the Deku merch we’ve talked about,” Natsuo points out.

Izuku blinks, then stares at Shigaraki. “…you bought some of my merch? But I could just give you some for free!”

“…you better buy me concert merch to make up for this,” Shigaraki says, turning to Natsuo and glaring at him.

Natsuo simply smiles back at him. “All the concert merch, I promise.”

Touya makes a gagging noise and heads straight for the table. “So, are we eating or not? I feel like the food’s gone cold from this entire gross confession scene—”

“I think it’s sweet, and food can just be reheated!” Fuyumi declares. “You don’t have a romantic bone in your body, Touya—how did you and Hawks even get together?”

“Oh, they were terrible,” Shigaraki comments, sitting down. “Weird sexual tension, puns, and homoerotic fights everywhere. And he kept saying that it was all to bring Hawks over to our side instead of just that he was thirsting for bird dick.”

“He did come over to our side, though,” Touya says smugly, looking far too pleased with himself.

“None of us want to know the details of how you did it,” Shigaraki rolls his eyes.

“Seconded,” Natsuo says, sitting down next to Shigaraki and going ahead to put some agadashi tofu in Shigaraki’s bowl (it should still be at the right temperature, and everyone loves Touya’s agadashi tofu). “I already walked into you two on my couch way too many times now.”

“Disgusting,” Shigaraki sniffs, glancing over at Natsuo. “I am so sorry.”

“Oh, you have nothing to apologize for—and besides, if the two of them didn’t come over, we wouldn’t have figured out everything as quickly,” Natsuo grins at Shigaraki.

“Probably wouldn’t have had as embarrassing a misunderstanding either,” Shigaraki mumbles, stabbing at the tofu with his chopsticks.

“It’s alright, it all worked out,” Fuyumi reassures him before turning to Natsuo. “So—are you going to tell Mother, or am I? Or wait, Touya, you haven’t already told her, have you?”

“You think if I told her she wouldn’t have made a special point to be here?” Touya points out, ladeling out some miso soup for himself. “I was still hoping that Natsu would come to his senses, but sadly he’s always been crazy. It’s like how he always likes sushi.”

“You’re comparing me to sushi?” Shigaraki demands.

“High quality, looked down upon only by weirdos, and delicious—I don’t see anything wrong with the comparison,” Natsuo says easily.

Touya looks as though he’s thinking about straight up leaving, Fuyumi is beaming at them, Izuku’s face is red, Shouto just looks mildly interested, and Shigaraki is now flushed all the way to the roots of his white hair. “I, uh—delicious?”

“ Do not answer that ,” Touya interjects before Natsuo can open his mouth. “Or else I will go into detail about Hawks and me hooked up the first time.”

“Remember, there are children here,” Fuyumi admonishes all of them, gesturing over towards a placid Shouto and Izuku who is furiously just focusing on the food in front of him.

“They’re 18, they’ll be fine,” Touya says with a wave of his hand.

Izuku is letting out squeaks that are increasingly making him sound like a tea kettle, and Shouto is giving increasingly concerned looks at him, so Natsuo quickly intervenes, “Say, what do you think about the new crafting update they did to the game?”

“It’s terrible,” Shigaraki says at the exact same moment Izuku says, “It’s great!”

Shigaraki whirls around, his brow furrowed furiously. “You call having to collect 2000 phoenix feathers one at a time to make a cloak now great?”

“Phoenix cloaks are too OP!” Izuku points out.

Natsuo steals some of Shouto’s cold soba and muses out loud, “They look pretty cool though.”

Both Shigaraki and Izuku agree about that, and the topic manages to turn to different quests in the game, with even Natsuo’s siblings being somewhat interested in the different plotlines.

At the end of it all, Natsuo sees Shigaraki off, ignoring the pointed way that Touya is attempting to hurry him away first. “So—you’ll text me where we’re supposed to meet for the concert, right?”

“Yes,” Shigaraki nods, looking down at the ground then back at Natsuo. “I—see you then.”

“Looking forward to it!” Natsuo says with a big grin.

(Now to figure out what to wear to a techno concert—

He’d ask Touya, but Touya probably will trick him into edgelord gear somehow.

Maybe Hawks-bro knows?

If Hawks doesn’t know, SpinSpin—Spinner—probably does.)

--

The techno concert itself is kind of noisy and confusing, but Shigaraki has a look of amazement and pleasure on his face the entire time, so Natsuo finds himself humming along as best he can regardless.

“Did you like it?” Shigaraki asks afterwards, looking at him while chewing his lip. “…it might not really be your thing, you can be honest.”

“I had a great time with you there,” Natsuo says honestly.

Shigaraki lets out a breath and purses his lips. “That means you didn’t like it.”

“I liked how much you were enjoying it?” Natsuo supplies. “It made me really understand the music and appreciate it more! Also, you’re really cute when you’re enjoying yourself.”

Shigaraki’s eyes widen as he shuffles in place a bit. “Well—uh—that’s good—god, how are you real?”

Natsuo just grins at him. “I don’t know what you mean—and also all this merch is a lot of fun!”

Shigaraki looks down at the T-shirts and CD’s and hats that Natsuo is carrying and nods slowly. “…next time, we’ll go to something you like. Like—like a sports game or something.”

(Sports game, Shigaraki is so cute.)

“Does that mean I was sufficiently charming enough to get another date?” Natsuo lowers his head a bit so that he can look Shigaraki in the eye. “I had a really wonderful time with you—better than I had even imagined!”

Shigaraki rolls his eyes, rubbing his neck. “Of course you’re sufficiently charming, god—I don’t know how you can just say all that stuff without blushing.”

“I’m inspired,” Natsuo says, grasping his hand with his own.

Shigaraki freezes in place, and Natsuo quickly realizes what he’s doing (right, right, his quirk activates with all five fingers or something, right?) and releases his hand to only awkwardly hold a few fingers, saying, “Uh—sorry, should have asked. Are you okay with this, or should I—should I let go?”

“As long as you’re not worried about being dusted, I—I don’t mind,” Shigaraki mumbles, his fingers twitching in Natsuo’s grasp.

“I mean, given that your laptops and gaming consoles are all in one piece, I’m pretty sure I don’t have anything to worry about,” Natsuo says, tentatively squeezing his hand.

“Yeah, I’ve learned a lot more control than at the start when I killed my entire family,” Shigaraki says blandly, staring straight at him.

(Ah, this is a test, isn’t it?

Lucky for him, Natsu loves tests.

It’s probably because it’s the only way he got acknowledgement in school since he wasn’t getting any at home back then.)

“That wasn’t your fault,” Natsuo says steadily. “Besides, no kid has really any control over their quirk when it first activates—do you know how much snow I piled up everywhere when my quirk first started?”

“Most kids including you didn’t kill their families with their quirks, though,” Shigaraki says quietly.

“Most kids don’t have quirks with that much firepower, and I think most kids don’t grow up in the kinds of households we did,” Natsuo says in a low voice. “If I had a quirk like yours—well.”

Shigaraki tilts his head, narrowing his eyes at him. “…would you have killed your father?”

“After Touya died? Maybe,” Natsuo admits, glancing down at his feet. “I—wasn’t in a good place back then. But Fuyumi was trying her best to keep what remained of our family going, and someone still needed to be there for her too, so—I was lucky in some ways.”

“…big sisters are great,” Shigaraki says in a soft voice. “I had one once. But it’s also my fault she’s gone.”

“That sucks,” Natsuo replies frankly. “But as far as I know—what happened was an accident. And I think—she would understand that and be happy that you’re trying your best now.”

“It doesn’t feel like enough,” Shigaraki states.

“What else can you do, though?” Natsuo counters. “We’re all just trying to live the best we can.”

Shigaraki stares at Natsuo for awhile before saying haltingly, “I—I have done a lot of bad things in my life to make up for. So—living on is not just enough. I have to try to make things better—and make sure that no child is abandoned and lost the way I was.”

(See, that’s what a real redemption should look like.

Admitting your mistakes and trying to atone for them, not just expecting everyone to accept that you’ve changed.)

“What? Do I have something on my face?” Shigaraki demands, already wiping at his own face.

“Are you going to punch me if I say I really want to kiss you?” Natsuo asks, rubbing the back of his neck.

Shigaraki immediately turns as red as a tomato and sputters, “That’s—isn’t that too soon?”

“If you say it is, then it is,” Natsuo agrees, putting both of his hands up. “I just wanted to let you know.”

“…I—I didn’t say that,” Shigaraki mumbles, staring down at the ground.

Natsuo feels his heart soar as he peers down at Shigaraki. “Does that mean that—you wouldn’t mind if I kissed you?”

Shigaraki licks his lips, glances up at Natsuo, and then glances back down at his shoes. “I—look, I’ve never done this before. I don’t know—I don’t know what you’re expecting, but I don’t think it will be that great for you. Like—I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy it, because you seem like the sort of person who knows what he’s doing, but you might not like me—my lips are chapped, I knew I should have taken Toga’s advice—didn’t think it would come up this quickly—”

“I would be honored to be your first kiss,” Natsuo declares, leaning forward eagerly. “And—I’m pretty sure no matter what, I’d enjoy myself teaching you too. The most important thing is that—I’m kissing you. ”

Shigaraki stares at him for awhile, biting his lip, before straightening up and saying stiffly. “Okay then. Kiss me.”

Natsuo eyes how stiffly Shigaraki is standing there and asks hesitantly, “…are you sure though?”

“Wow, you sure talk big, but you keep holding back,” Shigaraki grouses, crossing his arms.

“I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with this—”

Shigaraki grabs the front of Natsuo’s shirt and leans in. “I want this,” he says before smashing his mouth against Natsuo’s.

(…Shigaraki was not lying when he said he had never kissed anyone before.

But even if their teeth clack together, he’s a little slobbery, and he kisses awkwardly, this is still easily one of the best kisses that Natsu has had.

Because for once, he isn’t pretending or anything—

This man knows some of his darkest thoughts and still wants to kiss him this desperately.)

Natsuo puts a hand on the back of Shigaraki’s neck, gentling the kiss and carefully trying to guide his movements a bit, and Shigaraki leans into his touch and mouth, grasping Natsuo’s back, and it’s completely perfect—

Up until a whistle cuts through the lovely atmosphere, and Touya’s voice goes, “Are you serious? In the middle of the street? ”

Natsuo breaks away from Shigaraki, letting Shigaraki bury his head in his chest as he glares at Touya, whose eye is twitching, and an amused Hawks holding up his cellphone. “Do you guys mind?”

“Don’t mind me, I just have to take a photo, or else Toga said she’ll shift into me and then shave all my hair off,” Hawks says cheerfully, “I can’t handle that trauma, Natsu.”

“I’ll give you something to be traumatized about,” Shigaraki says darkly, lifting his head up to glare at Hawks.

Natsuo rubs Shigaraki’s arm reassuringly before asking Hawks and Touya sternly, “What are you guys even doing here? Besides doing Toga’s bidding.”

“ I dropped by to make sure you didn’t die of boredom during the techno concert,” Touya says, rubbing his eyes. “And what do I get for this concern? Getting to see you and Shigaraki suck face— why ?”

“Now you know how I feel when I walk in on you and Hawks-bro,” Natsuo says cheerfully. “And techno is great actually!”

Touya stares at him with narrowed eyes before looking at Shigaraki. “…never mind, I stand corrected. With Natsu’s shitty taste in music, the two of you are just meant to be.”

Shigaraki glares back at Touya and then turns to Natsuo. “Wait—what music do you like?”

“Trapnest is pretty good,” Natsuo says mainly to see the look of outrage on Touya’s face.

“Sellout,” Touya hisses.

“Oh hey, you like Trapnest too?” Hawks perks up, his wings drawing up. “A fellow man of taste and culture, I see.”

“Everyone here is a traitor, and I’m taking my boyfriend home to instruct him on how Blast is superior again,” Touya informs them, wrapping an arm around Hawks’ shoulders.

“We don’t need to hear about your foreplay,” Shigaraki sniffs before glancing up at Natsuo. “I—I had a really good time. Especially the last part—before certain people showed up.”

“Me too,” Natsuo grins down at him. “…would it be too fast if I invited you up right now?”

Shigaraki’s brow furrows, and he rubs his neck. “I—do you have two laptops or something? So maybe we could game together?”

“Sure!” Natsuo says, “You can use my laptop, and I’ll use my other non-work laptop.”

“I can’t believe Shigaraki is somehow being disgustingly cute, and it’s with my little brother,” Touya says to Hawks. “Let’s go, I can’t take any more of this.”

“Yeah, I think I got enough for Toga, so you can lecture me at home now,” Hawks laughs, blatantly wrapping himself around Touya.

“We need to go to your place next time so they can’t crash our dates,” Natsuo says to Shigaraki as they go upstairs.

“Sadly, Dabi also knows where my place is,” Shigaraki says, making a face. “But I’ll try to get Mr. Compress to distract him or something.”

“Or we can bribe Hawks-bro,” Natsuo suggests, opening the door. “Then they’ll leave us alone, and you can have some private tutoring~”

Shigaraki blushes, walking inside quickly. “Hurry up and login, there’s still dailies.”

“You haven’t done them yet?” Natsuo asks curiously, turning on his laptop.

“Was busy preparing for today,” Shigaraki mumbles before nudging him aside. “Come on—how are we supposed to pay for our in-game wedding if you don’t also do dailies?”

Natsuo laughs, not able to help reaching out to wind a strand of Shigaraki’s long white hair around his finger. “Is this you proposing to me?”

“In game!” Shigaraki squawks. “Anything else is—that’s too fast!”

(But he didn’t say no to eventually, so—

It’s not what Natsu expected at all, but he thinks this relationship will be the one to last.)

--

             [FULL SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT: NO HANDS ON ME AND SUMMER BREEZE HAVE MARRIED]

             [NO HANDS ON ME HAS FIRED OFF 999 FIREWORKS]

             [SUMMER BREEZE HAS FIRED OFF 88 FLOWER PETAL SHOWERS]

             [FlowersAndKnives: So romantic!!!! Could use a wedding battle though]

             [SpinSpin: Congrats!]

             [AllMightNumberOne: !!!! Amazing, so happy for you No Hands On Me!]

             [BlackMarketTech: Whohoo! Just for you newlyweds, 30% off at my store!]

             [AllMightNumberOne: This is Shouto, congratulations both of you.]

             [AllMightNumberOne: Fuyumi-neesan told me to take screenshots.]

             [Fly High: love the wedding graphics and congrats to you lovebirds!]

             [Fly High: your brother is looking up how NCH divorces work, but don’t mind him :DDD]

             [FULL SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT: NO HANDS ON ME AND SUMMER BREEZE ARE ON A HONEYMOON AND BLISSFULLY IN LOVE]