"Uh...you wanted to see me..?"

My side was glued to Mustard's as we entered the room, giving a polite bow to Kurogiri rather than our head honcho, who sat with his legs crossed on the edge of his bed.
"Yes...you, not the failure. I suppose I'll let it slide this time, though..." Shigaraki replied, tracing Father's thumb joint with his index finger. "I have a little job for you, girl. You'll help me, right?"

You know I don't have a choice in the matter...

"What is it that you need me to do?" I asked, trying to maintain a relaxed vibe, though I realised that wasn't working out as Mustard pressed closer.
"An ally of mine has left something for us somewhere in this general area, but the bastard loves to play his games. I need you to find it for me." The thin man explained, uncrossing his legs. "You do have a keen sense of smell, don't you?"

Nodding, I felt my throat begin to dry up. There had to be a catch. There always was when the boss was involved.
"Um...in some cases, yes..." I confirmed, tucking my hands behind my back to hide the way they fumbled about. "Is it something big, or..?"

"From what our comrade has shared with us, it seems to be a communication device, of some kind. The hints make me believe it could be a radio. It likely isn't very large." Kurogiri took the liberty of answering my question from where he stood by the small wardrobe, casually hanging all shades of black on hangers during our meeting.

"Who's this comrade? Can we trust him?" Mustard asked, sounding sceptical. Shigaraki stood up, each step he took towards us creaking with the aged floorboards.
"He's an old friend, that's all you need to know right now, brat." He responded bitterly, obviously not liking his presence. "Don't you have something better to do? Go bother Dabi and help him with storing our rations."

Rations..?

Nervously I turned my attention to Kurogiri, ignoring the other two as they argued between themselves.
"Kurogiri, just how long do you plan on being away..?" From the elongated silence that followed, I knew I wouldn't like the answer.
"I do not really have a definitive answer to that question, Ms. (Y/N). Personally, I hope for it to be a short endeavor, but I cannot promise that. I apologise for any inconvenience that may cause you."

I didn't mean it like that!

"I'll just miss you, that's all..." I confessed, scuffing my shoe against the dusty floorboards. "I mean, of course it'll be hard not being able to get to places easily, but you're kind of like our communal mo...Our dad..."
"You can save your little feels trip for later. We have important business to discuss." Shigaraki intervened, crossing his arms. "Tell your admirer to fuck off so we can get to it."

I didn't want Mustard to go, but I knew things could get messy if I didn't do what I was told. I had lost him once, and I wasn't about to risk losing him to a fate I couldn't save him from.
"Hisoka...It's okay...You can go help Dabi..." I murmured, watching his shoulders stiffen.
"A..are you sure? Like, absolutely positive?"

No...Not at all...

Manufacturing a smile, I nodded, walking up to him and giving him a gentle nudge.
"Super sure! I'll come and find you when we're done, 'kay?" The brunet searched my (E/C) eyes, but eventually began to leave, looking over his shoulder more than once before he was out of sight.

"If you will both excuse me, I must organise the toiletries." It was all well and good that Mustard had left, but Kurogiri's exit made my nerves swell a little. Involuntarily flinching when the door clicked shut, I warily turned my attention to Shigaraki.
"S..so...Does the general area mean around the building, or..?" I wanted the gist of it quickly so I could get out of there.

"Not exactly. Come here..." The powderet moved over to the small desk that had appeared since we had all peered inside, sitting down and unfurling a large sheet of paper with eight of his fingers. Cautiously, I followed, standing well off to the side, but making sure I still had a decent view of what he was trying to show me.

It was a map. I gathered it was of the district we were in, if it could even be called that.
"Okay, so there's a lot of outlines on this thing..." I murmured, scanning curves of red, blue, green and more. "Which one do I have to search?" Shigaraki's fingertip pressed to the most outer line, tracing almost the entirety of the map.
"All of it." He stated, ignoring my small whimper.

That's so much...It could take days...weeks, even. I've never been good at reading maps...

"So, what are all these other bits for?" I stepped closer to him, leaning over his shoulder and forgetting my worries about his unpredictability, even going so far as to place a hand on his shoulder for support. "You really went ham with the markers, didn't you?" Shigaraki didn't answer me for a long time, coughing awkwardly as he quickly spun his head away when I looked down at him.
"Kurogiri wanted to outline particular places where you could increase your stupid quirk collection, or whatever..."

"Oh, that's really nice of him..." I hummed, feeling his body twitch beneath my hand, reminding me to distance myself once more. "It's gonna be exhausting having to cover so much ground and coming back here of a night, though. Wouldn't it be easier to have one or two of the others give me some help?"

Clicking his tongue, Shigaraki spun back towards me, leaning back and crossing one slender leg over the other.
"I don't recall ever mentioning that you would be returning here before you find it." Startled by the reveal of the catch, my wide eyes began to narrow.
"It's getting colder, Tomura...I'll freeze out there."

I don't wanna be all on my own, either...

The chair made a loud creak as he stood up, and he slowly reached up to remove the severed hand from his face, revealing an almost excited smirk. It creased his face in a way that wasn't completely repulsive, but it was still distressing, because it radiated pure chaos.
"Not if you're inhuman."

My saliva stuck to the inside of my throat, realising exactly what he was getting at. Stepping back a single pace, I turned to stare into the folds of the curtained window.
"I...don't want to stay in my quirk that long...It isn't good for me..." I refuted, wringing my hands together.
"Do you really think I would ask you to do something that would harm you, girly?"

Probably...

"Unlike those heroes you seem to bleed for...I can see your potential..." He continued, his voice sounding almost gentle, if it weren't for the scratchy undertones that were no fault of his own.
"Th..they did see my potential...I was working at an agency already...and Fat believed in me..." I insisted, taking a step backwards for each stride he took towards me.

Tutting, Shigaraki hooked each of his thumbs into the pockets of his inky pants, shaking his head loosely.
"What did you do there? I'd love to know your side of things, really, I would. Because from what I heard...they didn't trust you to go your own way..."

That isn't true...

"No. No, they did...I patrolled on my own before..." My breath hitched as my heel connected with the skirting board, telling me I had nowhere left to go.
"But you messed up, didn't you? That fire, at the warehouse down by the docks? They kept you on a tight leash after that, didn't they? No trust in you after one little hiccup..."

I wasn't sure whether he was taunting me or not. His words said one thing, but his tone said another, and I was starting to get incredibly confused.
"That...wasn't my fault...Everybody knew that...No hero can save everybody..."

But I couldn't even save one little girl...

Shigaraki came to a stop directly in front of me, tilting his head to the side so his wavy hair fell with it.
"See, this is why I want to help you. Everything that comes out of your mouth tells me that you still have reservations about what we do here. It kind of pisses me off."

The glint that had shone across his carnelian eyes should have warned me of what was to come, but my panic still shot through the rickety ceiling when his hand flew out and curled around my throat, save for that single, fate-holding finger.
"I..I don't..! I told you...I belong to the l..league!" My voice was quaking like crazy, but I didn't feel the urge to cry. Not this time.

"That's the thing, (Y/N)..." As his face came closer, the dryness of my mouth matched that of his skin, and my (E/C) eyes were captured in the gleaming colour of blood. "...I don't want you to belong to the league...I want you to belong with the league...Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

No...I just know that I'm probably going to wet myself...

"What you call your quirk's drawback could be quite the opposite, if you embraced it. I saw how it changed you after that little stay-away with the Yakuza, and how strong you were...mentally and physically..." His hand loosened around my throat, but it stayed there, like a reminder that I was to remain still and take in what he was saying.
"I...don't want to hurt anybody..." My whisper was patheticly weak, proving to him just how much power he had over me in that moment.

Finally, his hand left my pulsing throat, but it never left my skin, two of his fingertips tracing up my jaw line until they were joined by two more, resting against my cheek.
"You idiot..." He chuckled, lips splitting thanks to the stretch of his smile. "...what do you think those heroes do to people like me? People like your precious Dabi and Mustard, huh? Don't they beat us down to a pulp before locking us up for life? Didn't you see what they did to your little friend?"

Gran Torino really hurt Dabi...Tetsutetsu gave Hisoka a major concussion...Who knows what damage Edgeshot could have done to Kurogiri back in the bar that night...

There was some sense in what he was saying, and I didn't like it. His mind was sick and twisted, and even though he wasn't hurting me, the scar he had left in his wake long before was stinging as though it were a fresh, open wound.
"Th..the other villains in Tartarus did that to H..Hisoka..." I stammered, resisting the urge to lean out of his touch in fear of offending him.

"Are you sure about that? Well, maybe you'll think long and hard about what I'm offering you after you have a little chat with him..." It was only when he pulled away that I became aware of the heat in my body, and I hurried to dart around him to a much safer distance.
"J..just let me know when I have to go...I'm gonna see if I can help out with cleaning up the place..."

Shigaraki made me realise that smiles did, in fact, have a sound, and it wasn't at all pleasant. Kind of like small bones snapping and cracking under pressure.
"That's a good girl...I'll whistle when I'm ready for you..."

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***So, I'm straying on my own path for this arc, because A) I really wanted to involve some more quote-unquote 'intimate' moments with our favourite Mr. Whatthefuckisachapstick,
and B)...I just really can't be assed to reread the manga right now.

Next time: The Runt is a Rival?***

***ALSO - I urge you all to go and check out my dear sempiternal_stare 's story '•Glitch•'! Every time it's updated my crops are watered and my soul does the 💖 emoji***