Face Me Like An Idiot

41

"You're kidding me!" Izuku let out a quivering breath, his eye twitching uncontrollably. His desk was flipped over, its contents spilt onto the pristine, marble flooring. Shouto flinched at the reaction, his shoulders trembling. He dared not to look Izuku in the eyes, afraid that if he did… Well, he didn't want to know what would happen to him.

"I-I'm sorry that I didn't say anything–"

"Shouto, do you understand the implications of this?" Izuku marched up to him and firmly latched his hands onto his stiff shoulders. His emerald eyes stared into Shouto's heterochromatic ones, holding a faint hint of anger and tons of panic. "How could you forget to tell me that some of our—your classmates know about your involvement with me?"

"I-I'm sorry," Shouto repeated, screwing his eyes shut. He was expecting the worst to occur. "I thought that you'd be disappointed with me, and I… I don't…"

"Oh, Shou," Izuku sighed, his eyes softening. He pulled Shouto into an embrace and buried the bottom of his face on his neck. With his voice muffled by Shouto's blazer, he said: "I'm not Endeavour, Shou. I would never be disappointed in you."

"…" Shouto merely wrapped his arms around Izuku, his head lowered. He muttered, "I… I know."

Izuku leaned away and cupped Shouto's cheeks gently, focussing his warm gaze on him. "You're… different. I treasure you because you are more valuable than everyone else."

"I am?" Shouto furrowed his brow. In reply, Izuku nodded with a small smile on his face.

"You are. Endeavour doesn't deserve you. Nobody does, except me. Do you understand?" With those glittering emerald eyes staring
at him, how could Shouto possibly say no? The longer he stared at them, the more entranced he seemed to get.

Shouto seemed to be falling into an endless pit… Deeper, and deeper, into a wormhole in the Earth—one called the obsession of Midoriya Izuku. No longer was it love, that Shouto was feeling. No—what he felt was something akin to obsession.

"…Yes. Yes, I understand," Shouto breathed out.

Izuku smiled and patted his shoulders. "Wonderful. Then, I expect you to tell me whenever something like this ever comes up again."

Izuku leaned uncomfortably close to Shouto, making him shrink back with a light blush on his cheeks. He attempted to turn his head away, but Izuku's hand abruptly reached up and grasped his cheeks, forcing his gaze to stay put. With a somewhat sinister smile, Izuku stared deeply into Shouto's eyes.

"Look at me when I talk to you," he commanded, his fingers digging into Shouto's cheeks to the point of his cheekbones hurting. "If I find out that you are keeping more secrets from me… Heh, I don't think you want to know what will happen."

"Y-yes… I understand, Decipher," Shouto gulped, his stutter evident as his jaw trembled. His face was pale and his eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He could almost hear his shaky breaths as they whispered through the air—until, finally, Izuku let go of his face… well, more like he shoved his face away.

"…" Izuku breathed out a quiet sigh. "Fix it," he demanded sternly, "Kill them if you have to, just take responsibility for your mistake."

"K…kill them?" Shouto's voice quavered at the mere implication of taking someone's life. Let alone the life of his classmates.

"That isn't a request, Frostbite," Izuku's gaze pierced right through him, and he felt as though a bucket of chilling water was poured over him. Like a sudden realisation; an epiphany.

"Y…yes, sir," with a slight bow, Shouto scrambled to leave the office. Once the door clicked close, he collapsed onto the floor and held a hand to his chest.

The beating of his heart could deafen those who listened closely. Each breath he sucked in made his heart leap to his throat, disabling his ability to speak and even breathe properly. His shaky fingers curled into his blouse, slightly crumpling it.

Just… what had he gotten himself into?

"Damn it!" A harsh slam resounded throughout the lavish bar, its furniture almost vibrating from its sheer force. It nearly looked as if the decor was trembling, frightened by the wrath of one Tomura Shigaraki.

"Calm down, Shigaraki…" Kurogiri's plead was merely a whisper in comparison to Shigaraki's petulant grumbling.

"Calm down?!" Shigaraki parroted, his voice rougher and fiercer than ever before. His face was red with anger, his teeth gritting so hard that they could be pushed into his gums. "How do you expect me to calm down… when all of our members are disappearing?!"

"…"

"Those cowards!" Shigaraki's neck was practically littered with scratch marks, blood almost seeping through his injured skin.

Kurogiri sighed deeply. His glowing yellow eyes then sharpened. "No, I believe that the one making them 'disappear'… is someone."

"…" For once in the past few months, Shigaraki was silent as he stared at Kurogiri. His eyes were widened, pupils contracting even further. "You mean… you think that someone is taking our members?"

"No," Kurogiri shook his head slightly; the dark mist that acted as his skin and flesh, swaying. "Someone is killing them."

"Who would be audacious enough to–" Shigaraki paused; his eyes widening, before narrowing into slits. "…Decipher."

Kurogiri nodded slowly. "I'm not one to accuse, but Decipher may just be the most probable suspect." He said, "Whoever our enemies may be, I will never leave your side, Tomura."

Shigaraki grinned at that statement. "Good, good…" his face then darkened, "What would you say to being on the front lines of a war?"

"…" Kurogiri was silent for a while. Until… "I will fight by your side, Master Tomura."

Master Tomura…

He liked the sound of that.

"I think it's time…" Kurogiri then narrowed his wispy, golden eyes. He turned his gaze to Tomura, who returned the look with a puzzled expression.

"Time for what?"

The Nomu opened up a portal. Taking the hint, Tomura stepped through it without hesitation. When he arrived on the other side, he was confused to see that the entire area was pitch-black. Wherever he was, there were no windows or entranceways. However, as soon as the ceiling lights started flickering one by one, starting from the bulb furthest away from him; the sight that bestowed him made his eyes widen.

A grin then crawled its way onto his face as he glanced around; Nomu tanks, everywhere. Some had green liquid filling them up, others had pink and eerie black blended together. When Kurogiri appeared beside him, Tomura turned to him.

"What is this place?" He couldn't hide the excitement that laced his voice. Of course, he knew what the Nomu tanks implied. But he needed to hear it from the one that his master trusted its whereabouts with. The one who had helped him reached this crucial point.

"This…

…Is All For One's laboratory."

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