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“It’s like everyone is suddenly obsessed with this stupid Hero Killer. What do you think the difference is between us, Midoriya?”
Izuku should feel threatened. Should feel a distinctive rush of adrenaline tingling along his nerves. But he’s been up all night, finishing analysis projects he’s been working on and getting a sudden inspiration for an entirely new one. So, he’d thought to himself: “Well. Tomorrow’s gonna be as safe as it can get. Literally everyone goes with me.” and beneath his bed is a carton full of cheap cherry and cola flavoured energy drinks. (Insomnia may prevent you from sleeping but it doesn’t make you have any focus or power to go through the following day.) He gulped down three of them – two cherry, one cola – and as he’d basically worked a twelve hour shift, he was therefore feeling beautifully cotton-packed as well as thoughtless when he and his class hit the mall.
No wonder Shigaraki so easily brought four fingers on his throat and led him to the fountain in the middle of the shopping centre. Izuku listened to the threats rather absently as his mind already concluded that it’d be a downright massacre if he didn’t comply.
Now, the question, though. That one catches him entirely off-guard.
“Huh? You want me to tell you what the difference between Stain and you is?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Is this your pathetic attempt at stalling, hero?” Shigaraki rasps narrow-eyed.
Izuku can’t help himself. He lets out a tiny snort. “No, I’m just so fucking buzzed right now. Been up since... um, actually, I think this is the third day now. Oops. Well, you literally picked the worst day to interrogate me. Gonna have a pretty loose tongue, so I’m gonna apologize in advance if what I’m about to say isn’t, like, entirely in character.”
“What do you mean in character?” The four fingers bite a little harsher into the flesh of his throat but Izuku barely registers the slight increase of pressure.
“I mean my character as a hero. You’re playing the part of villain right now but I wasn’t prepared to be a hero today, so I’m just gonna answer as Midoriya Izuku. If that’s alright with you. You could abduct me another day, not that I’d appreciate it. But I’d be prepared to pull on my persona beforehand.”
Shigaraki gapes at him, as if he’s surprised at the mere concept of playing a role to fit in. (Man, Izuku thinks, I wish that was me.) “What. Okay, um. Just answer my question as Midoriya Izuku then...?” the leader of the League says unsurely.
Izuku’s mouth is already open, ready to finally state his opinion without repercussions. If a villain wants to hear what he has to say, well... he isn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. (There are a lot of things he isn’t allowed to say in the vicinity of his innocent indoctrinated classmates.) “Let’s start with the main difference: Ambition. A goal, so to speak. With Stain it’s clear as day what he wants to achieve. I didn’t really invest any time in getting to know his ideals before I met him in Hosu but he made sure to immediately rectify that gap in knowledge. He wants to get rid of all fake heroes and puts All Might on a pedestal to have an example of what a true hero is. This is, of course, dumb as fuck because All Might is the prime example of what is wrong with our society. Not the man himself – I love that guy – but what role he’s been pushed into. Symbol of Peace... what a load of bullshit but I digress.”
Izuku takes a large gulp of air and continues, unaware of Shigaraki Tomura’s incredulity, with hands flying through the air in the usual thinking patterns (Kacchan would blow him up if he saw): “Then there’s the issue of you as an organization. You are the leader of the League of Villains and yet what I know about you and what you want to do is miniscule at best. You, Shigaraki Tomura, like video games and usually have mummified hands on you and you want to kill All Might... but what does that say about you, the leader of an organization? Nothing much, to be honest. The fact that you like video games could be spun into a theme for the League, I guess, and it could be used to make you more relatable. As of yet, it doesn’t do anything but make you seem childish. Sorry.” Izuku pats the young man’s (or older teenager’s?) thigh as an apology, “Anyways. Back to what I was saying. The mummified hands are great accessories, don’t get me wrong, and I’m sure you put a lot of thought into your costume-”
“I didn’t” Shigaraki interjects softly, blinking down at the UA student, “I, uh, didn’t put any thought into my costume. Sensei just made me put them on? And... uh... the rest is just what I usually wear?”
°°°
Ochako decides to check up on Izuku after a while of wandering through a shoe shop. She’s on the first floor and immediately spots her friend wildly gesticulating as he animatedly talks to what she guesses is a fan by his side.
She smiles softly to herself and turns back around. She doesn’t want to interrupt her sweet Deku-kun’s enthusiasm.
(It’s so often shut down, even in UA.)
°°°
Izuku grimaces. What Shigaraki said sounds so much like All Might, bless the man, who wants to shape him into the next Symbol of Peace because he can’t imagine a world without it. (Izuku can. But it'll be a long and hard path paved with obstacles until he can achieve it.) “Um. Then seriously ask yourself how you wanna look. What you want the world to see. As I said, you could run with the gamer theme. Or you could wear, like, something early 20th century-esque? And twist the theme of gamer to chess player? Something like that. Invest time and thought into your persona. That’s one of the most important things about being a hero or a villain or even a vigilante – your presence. Also, unify your League. Seriously, take quality over quantity and make them don similar personas like yours. Then, uh, I guess there’s the issue of killing All Might. That’s, by the way, the main difference between you and Stain in whatever goals I could discern – he loves him, you hate him. Alright but literally why kill him?”
Shigaraki needs a moment to register the question, it seems. (Mentally, he lets out a relieved sigh. Finally something he can answer without literally embarrassing himself. He’s listened to the kid’s words with growing horror as he more and more realized just how unprepared he’s been for villainy.) “I want to kill the Symbol of Peace because he’s what is wrong with society!” (Yes, good. A true reason! Something he could hold onto. Then he looks down and literally wants to just up and leave. Midoriya’s eyebrows are scrunched up and he looks like he’s awaiting more. Tomura doesn’t have more. Tomura has shit all.)
“So, uh, stop me if I get that wrong. You want to kill the man that is All Might to change society’s perception of the symbol they themselves created.”
(Put like that, Tomura thinks it’s fucking stupid but the plan comes from his sensei. He can’t just not do it.) Shigaraki shrugs unmotivated. “Yeah, I guess?”
Izuku groans. “You know that’s going to do the exact opposite? All Might is already idolized to hell and back. If you kill him now, he’s going to be hailed as a martyr. You could try to defame him after his death but nothing short of verified past mass killings or an SD-card full of child pornography that is clearly his is going to even remotely make people question him. You can’t use the statistics against him either as violence rates are lower wherever he is. The only thing that you could do to stand a slight chance against him is to write a couple of extremely detailed analysis dissertations on the hero society in general and how the existence of All Might as a symbol has had serious negative impact on the outcasts of society... and even then you’ll only be able to hit a nerve with intelligent folks who are already prone to nihilism. And that is only if you write incredibly good dissertations. Like, I suppose another difference between Stain and you is how likely you are to succeed in your quest. Killing off some heroes who are mostly in it for the fame and publicity – humanized heroes? Yeah, no problem. You saw that it worked and resonated with people. Killing a symbol by killing the man? Man, that sounds so far-fetched it’s not even funny.”
When Izuku finally notices that Shigaraki’s fingers aren’t resting on his throat any longer, he turns his head to him and recoils at the empty downcast look on the guy’s face. “Are you feeling alright?” Izuku asks gently, slowly placing a hand on the villain’s back. When it’s clear he isn’t going to disintegrate him for it, he starts rubbing circles. Shigaraki remains oddly unresponsive (Shock? No. Dissociation? Likely.) and Izuku decides to do something against that because, after all, he is a hero hopeful and he isn’t going to be like Endeavor and take advantage of vulnerability.
“Stay here, Shigaraki-kun. I’m going to just go over there and get us a... um... milkshake? What flavour do you want?”
Almost inaudibly, the other teenager (and Izuku’s now sure he can’t be older than twenty) whispers: “Strawberry”
“Good, I’ll be back right away.” he reassures and walks to the stand that sells them. Luckily, there isn’t a queue and he has enough money to buy two small strawberry milkshakes. When he arrives back at the fountain, Shigaraki has caught himself enough to mumble out a quick “thanks” when Izuku hands over one of the cups.
Izuku sits down next to him again and takes a sip.
Then he repeats his question from earlier: “Are you alright?”
Shigaraki stares at him. “I don’t know” he answers hesitantly, “I’m uncertain. I don’t know... I mean how do I... proceed?”
Maybe it speaks volumes of Izuku’s own insecurities that he instantly understands what the other boy means. “Hmm” he hums thoughtfully, “I think you will have to ask yourself what you want. It’s not too late in the game. The thing at USJ was your first big gig, right?”
After Shigaraki’s confirming nod, he continues: “See? If you want to, you can even change sides. Be a civilian or a vigilante or even a hero or stay a villain – it’s your life, Shigaraki-kun. Just ask yourself what you like. Do you like killing people?”
(Tomura has no answer to that. He’s never had the choice.)
“In any case, I think you’re going to do just fine with whatever you choose. Oh, wait a second.” Izuku picks out his smaller notebook and his pen from the bag he took with him. When he’s done with writing, he rips out the page and hands it to Shigaraki, who takes it carefully and wide-eyed.
Izuku smiles broadly and gives him a thumbs-up. “If you need help, I’m just a text away! Um... but if you decide to be a villain please don’t expect I’ll give you actual tips! Now, I’ve gotta go before anyone gets suspicious. Don’t worry, I won’t call the cops if you don’t cause harm!”
“Uh... bye. And thanks. For the talk and the milkshake.” Shigaraki says. (Tomura can’t bring himself to stop Midoriya or to threaten him. It’s... weird but something inside him has clicked into place.)
“No problem! That’s what heroes are for!”
And then Izuku’s on his way.
(And Tomura’s left with a sense of strange calm.)
°°°
After twelve hours of sleep, Izuku wakes up and the first thing he does is scream into his pillow in disbelief. What the fuck was he thinking?!
(He wasn't thinking anything. That's the problem with not getting any sleep. You become muddled and find things funny that decidedly aren't... or you end up giving villains coaching sessions.)
Izuku decides he'll forget the whole ordeal. He's forgotten three-fourths of what he said anyways and Shigaraki didn't do much else other than basically hold him at gun point for a while and-
Yeah, no.
Fuck that.
°°°
The text is sent after their training camp - which went suspiciously fine. No incidents whatsoever.
He opens it cautiously and almost chokes on his own spit.
Unknown Number
[LOCATION SENT]
so i guess i became the owner of a neutral grounds bar after i put sensei and his creepy doctor companion to rest
come visit any time if you want to grab an alc free drink
- shigaraki tomura but well i changed my name so it’s shimura tenko now