Lightning Serenade

Chapter 59: Internship III

"Can we talk?" Dabi asked from the doorway.

Shigaraki tensed where he sat, shoulder drawing up and teeth grinding together, sending an annoying vibration through his jaw. And though his eyes were fixed downward toward the blueprints of the Yakuza hideout that he had sent Toga and Twice to, he wasn't really seeing them. Blood pulsed behind his eyes as his vision flashed, and he duly noted that there would be an incoming headache after this exchange.

"The silent treatment is a form of abuse," Dabi stated like he was explaining the concept of his own quirk, easygoing and familiar. Even though the words were accusatory, his tone wasn't. It was more like a lighthearted observation than an accusation or a call for change.

Dabi entered the room slowly, but not because he was being cautious, no. He trusted Shigaraki, and even if the man was pissed, he wouldn't do anything to hurt him. One look at Shigaraki, tensed as tightly as a wound coil, hands fisted on top of the desk he was working at, and Dabi knew that as much as Shigaraki was a real threat and feeling real, intense emotions, he wasn't going to do anything.

"It's not the silent treatment," Shigaraki ground out, not turning around to look at him. From his place in the middle of the room, Dabi could see the irritated twitch of Shigaraki's eye that was closest to him. "I'm counting and breathing."

Dabi smiled easily at the explanation and sat where he stood, allowing himself to flop down onto the plush, navy carpet, combing his fingers over the texture as he waited. Dabi smiled at Shigaraki's irritation, and Dabi smiled because he knew Shigaraki had the power to do a lot of damage, and Dabi smiled because he knew Shigaraki wouldn't use that power against him, and Dabi smiled because he always smiled around Shigaraki. He loved him endlessly.

Dabi frowned and looked away, distracting himself by looking at a loose thread on Shigaraki's pillowcase in the opposite direction from where Shigaraki himself sat. Dabi frowned because Shigaraki's pain was his doing, and Dabi frowned because there was no easy solution to their problems, and Dabi frowned because he was in way too deep to just walk away and never think of Shigaraki again, and Dabi frowned because Hawks was growing on him despite his active resistance and distancing from him.

When Shigaraki got his heartrate under control and was finally able to force his muscles to relax enough that he wasn't comparable to that rocky Class 2-A student, he turned around only to see Dabi staring at his bed, an intense concentration on his face.

Taking one last deep breath, Shigaraki muttered, "what did you need?"

It was quiet, but so was everything else, so Dabi heard him loud and clear. Dabi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, a sure sign to Shigaraki that he wasn't as relaxed as he looked.

"I need to know what you need," Dabi answered. And when Shigaraki didn't respond, Dabi looked up to meet his gaze, and continued, "what do you want me to do?"

The question had undertones of desperation. It wasn't rhetorical or condescending; he was truly asking Shigaraki what he could do to start to mend things between them.

"What do you want to do?" Shigaraki returned.

Dabi looked away again, his hands going back into his hair, but staying there and tightening on his strands instead of just running through. "I don't know. Fuck. Tomura, I don't know."

Shigaraki knew that this answer would be a possibility, but it still stung. A pang of envy and rejection pierced his heart, and his stomach dropped. So, he took another deep breath. And then another.

With a sad kindness in his voice that Dabi had never heard from him before, Shigaraki said, "then you need to figure it out."

-.-.-