Not A Villain

VI

Everyone was silent for a long time in the infirmary. Eijiro and Denki both had to leave in order to do their homework in peace, and Tomura had sat himself back on the medical bed as he stared at his hands again. Recovery Girl had left and returned thirty minutes later with a stack of small flower pots. She quickly cleaned the mess on the floor before setting the plant in another pot and walking over to Tomura.

"I have a question for you, dear," she said, and he looked up at her as she held out the pot. "If you touched this pot, what would decay?"

"Everything," the other quietly answered. "The plant and the dirt too."

"And could you control it to just the pot?" He nodded. "Good. Then this plant is yours now."

"W-what?" He asked as she set the plant beside him on the bed. She simply smiled in response, turning and bringing the bag of small pots over.

"Control your quirk to decay just the pot, but try your hardest not to decay anything at all," she instructed. "As you take care of the plant, you'll come to like it. I want you to give it a name and keep it alive."

"... I can't even keep a shelf alive," Tomura pointed out. "You want me to take care of a plant?"

She nodded and smiled brighter. "Yes, dear."

"I'm not sure why you have so much faith in my ability to preserve a plant."

"Well, that's the first step to controlling your quirk," she replied. "Everyone needs someone to believe in them, even when they don't believe in themselves."

Tomura opened his mouth to respond again, but Izuku cut him off. "If it's any consolation, I know you can do it," he pitched in.

"I'm not sure if that should be consolation or not."

Just then, the door swung open and Aizawa walked in with Present Mic, both of them crossing their arms and glaring at Tomura.

"Alright villain," Aizawa started. "You're lucky you're not in jail already."

"Tch-" Mic mumbled. "Ya got that right."

Tomura simply stared them down blankly, his new pet plant sitting comfortably on the bed beside him still.

"We're putting a lot of faith in our students to make sure you and your friend don't act up," he warned. "So watch yourselves."

"And what if we didn't?"

Aizawa frowned further, somehow. "You two would go to jail, and the three students who knew about all of this mess beforehand would be expelled."

Tomura sighed. "Then I guess I should behave."

"Damn right!" Mic exclaimed, immediately being shushed by Recovery Girl. He cleared his throat and quieted his voice. "Let's just get this over with..."

"What?"

"As per Bakugo's request, you and Dabi have been given dorm rooms while you're here," Aizawa explained, although he clearly wasn't happy about it. "We'll escort you there."

"Dabi left already," Tomura pointed out, standing up and picking up the potted plant but keeping a finger raised as he did.

"Shoto escorted him to a room," Aizawa grumbled, turning around and walking out the door. "Let's go."

"Here, Tomura," Recovery Girl said sweetly, and he glanced at her as she held up the bag of flower pots for him to take. He sighed and took the bag before moving forward after the teachers.

Neither of the teachers talked as they showed him the way to the dorms for class 1-A, Tomura's eyes settling on Eijiro and Shoto as they waved at him from the entrance, the former with a goofy smile on his face.